Still Life with Snake and Lizard
Otto Marseus van Schrieck
(Dutch, 1619–1678)
about 1670
Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas
Dimensions62.9 x 49.5cm (24 3/4 x 19 1/2in.)
Credit LineGift of Maida and George S. Abrams in memory of Matilda and Samuel Abrams
Accession number1990.622
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPaintings
Collections
Marseus van Schriek depicted forest plants and animals with both scientific precision and mysterious, poetic overtones. Here, a snake and a lizard face off beneath a strange and seemingly gigantic poppy, a flower associated with sleep, night, and opium-induced hallucinations. A contemporary noted that the artist kept a menagerie of snakes and lizards with which he appeared to share a remarkable emotional rapport.
ProvenanceJuly 15, 1970, anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, lot 132, to G. Bernier for £1900. 1975, Schaeffer Galleries, New York; March 1, 1975, sold by Schaeffer to George S. Abrams, Newton, MA; 1990, gift of Maida and George S. Abrams to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 23, 1991)
Emil Otto Grundmann
Emil Otto Grundmann
Emil Otto Grundmann
Marie Diéterle Van Marcke de Lummen
Jacob Van Oost the Younger
Hendrick Cornelisz. van Vliet
Marie Diéterle Van Marcke de Lummen
Fredericus Jacobus van Rossum du Chattel
