Glass Vase with Flowers on a Stone Ledge

Jan Davidsz. de Heem (Dutch, 1606–about 1684)

1655–60

Medium/TechniqueOil on panel

Dimensions47.3 x 35.6 cm (18 5/8 x 14 in.)
Framed: 64.1 x 52.4 x 7 cm (25 1/4 x 20 5/8 x 2 3/4 in.)

Credit LineGift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art

Accession number2022.1917

On View

On view

ClassificationsPaintings

Collections

Europe

Description

When Utrecht-born De Heem moved to Antwerp in the 1630s, he adopted the rich color palette and busy compositions characteristic of the most influential Flemish artists: Rubens and Frans Snyders. Fusing this adopted style with his own, De Heem invented the new sub-category of “sumptuous” still lifes (pronkstillevens). In 1658, he returned to Utrecht, shaping the styles of many painters, including Rachel Ruysch and Jacob van Walscapelle.

The transient beauty of flowers in this picture—shown at various stages of their bloom—could be a metaphor for the brevity of life, while the stalk of wheat, together with the caterpillar, might refer to resurrection and renewal.

ProvenanceOctober 27, 1927, sold by Van Diemen Galleries, Amsterdam, to M. Knoedler and Co., New York (stock no. 16987); September 29, 1929, sold by Knoedler to Jan Kleykamp Galleries, The Hague. By 1949, Frits del Monte (b. 1903 – d. about 1986), Brummen [see note 1]; May 29, 1986, Del Monte estate sale, Christie’s, Amsterdam, lot 172. David Koetser, Zurich, and Richard Green, London. Flick, Munich [see note 2]. 1997, sold by Galerie Sanct Lucas, Vienna, to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Naples, FL [see note 3]; 2022, gift of Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 6, 2022)

NOTES:
[1] He lent this painting to the Château des Rohan, La Hollande en Fleurs (Strasbourg, 1949), cat. no. 20.

[2] According to Frederik Duparc, Golden: Dutch and Flemish Masterworks from the Collection of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo (New Haven, 2011), p. 171. Possibly Gert-Rudolf Flick, art historian and collector, or his brother Friedrich Christian Flick, also an art collector.

[3] Provenance after the 1986 Christie’s sale is taken from Duparc 2011 (see above, note 1), p. 171.