Osias Beert the Elder

With Eugene Slatter, London, by 1957 (inv. no. 19);

With Galerie Pardo, Paris, 1957-1962;

Dr. Hans A. Wetzlar (d. 1977), Amsterdam, by 1962;

His estate sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's Mak van Waay, 9 June 1977, lot 127;

Where acquired by Richard Green, London;

From whom acquired by Hans and Marion König, 1994.

L. Bol, in Nederlandse stillevens uit de zeventiede eeuw, Dordrecht 1962, cat. no. 16, reproduced fig. 28; 

I. Bergström, "Dordrecht Impressions," in Apollo 77, no. 16 (June 1963), p. 450, reproduced (on cover of issue);

De kunst van het verzamelen Keuze uit twee Nedelandse colllecties, exhibition catalogue, Laren 1966, p. 7, cat. no. 5;

S. Segal and M. Roding, De Tulp en de Kunst, verhaal van een symbol, exhibition catalogue, Zwolle 1994, pp. 92, 117, cat. no. S3, reproduced fig. 28;

M.L. Hairs, Les Peintres flamands de fleurs au XVIIe siècle, Tournai 1998, p. 290.

Dordrechts Museum, Nederlandse stillevens uit de zeventiede eeuw, 21 July - 2 September 1962, no. 16 (lent by Dr. Hans A. Wetzlar);

Laren, Singer Museum, De kunst van het verzamelen Keuze uit twee Nedelandse colllecties, 18 June - 18 September 1966, no. 5 (lent by Dr. Hans A. Wetzlar);

Amsterdam, Nieuwe Kerk, De Tulp en de Kunst, verhaal van een symbol, 8 October - 6 November 1994, no. S3.

Osias Beert produced this sophisticated depiction of a floral bouquet circa 1615. Working in Antwerp, Beert was one of the most influential still-life painters of the early seventeenth century, an important moment in the genre’s development. The crisply delineated floriate forms underscore the intimate connection between floral painting and botanical illustration in the early seventeenth century, just as "Tulipomania" swept across Northern Europe. 

Beert executed the vivid blooms with remarkable technical dexterity. Rendered from a slightly elevated view point, the near-symmetrical composition focuses on six pink tulips in a glass vase imprinted with blackberries. A pair of pink cyclamens and a handful of blue anemones, an imported rarity at the time, complete the arrangement, which is further animated by two butterflies. While the drooping stems hint at beauty’s ephemerality, the composition itself could be enjoyed year-round, suggesting that art offered a respite from life’s transience.