Still Life with Flowers

Balthasar van der Ast (Dutch, 1593 or 1594–1657)

about 1630

Medium/TechniqueOil on panel

Dimensions37.1 x 24.4 cm (14 5/8 x 9 5/8 in.)
Framed: 52.1 x 40 x 4.1 cm (20 1/2 x 15 3/4 x 1 5/8 in.)

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

Accession number2017.4196

On View

On view

ClassificationsPaintings

Collections

Europe

Description

Like his teacher Ambrosius Bosschaert, Van der Ast was a pioneer of flower painting. To prepare his floral pieces, he made a sort of library of over 800 drawings of individual species, which he kept in his studio.

At the peak of the mania for collecting tulips that swept the Netherlands in the 1630s, some of the flowers themselves cost more than their painted versions. In the boom year of 1637, particularly desired tulip bulbs could sell for 100–300 guilders, or even more, while a painting of flowers by Van der Ast was only about 39 guilders.

ProvenanceJune 13, 1809, anonymous (consigned by "P.") sale, Schley and Spaan, Amsterdam, lot 3 [see note 1], sold for 1 fl. to Frantzen, Amsterdam; June 20, 1810, anonymous (consigned by "S.," probably Frantzen), Schley, Amsterdam, lot 2a, sold for 1 fl. to Wessel Rijers (b. 1737 - d. 1814) [see note 2]; July 22, 1811, anonymous (consigned by "G.") sale, Schley, Amsterdam, lot 97, sold for 1 fl. to Levy Pakker. October 12, 1983, anonymous sale, Karbstein and Schultze, Düsseldorf, lot 46 [see note 4]. 1985, Richard Green (dealer), London. Private collection. 1997, Xavier Scheidwimmer (dealer), Munich; 1998, sold by Xavier Scheidwimmer to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Marblehead, MA [see note 5]; 2017, gift of Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 14, 2017)

NOTES:
[1] "Een Glaze Fles, staande op een Tafel, gevuld met geurige Bloeman, door B. van Ast op Paneel, hoog 14, breed 10 duimen." Traces of an old label with this text remain on the reverse of the panel.

[2] "Een Glazen Fles, gevuld met geurige Bloemen, staande op eene Tafel. Uitvoerig op paneel, door van Ast. Hoog 14, breed 10 duimen."

[3] "Een glaasen Fles, staande op eene Tafel, gevuld met eenige Bloemen door B. van Ast, op Paneel, hoog 14, breed 10 duimen."

[4] See advertisement in Weltkunst 53, December 15, 1983, p. 3601.

[5] Provenance information from 1985 onwards is taken from Frederik Duparc et al., Golden: Dutch and Flemish Masterworks from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection (New Haven, 2011), p. 63, cat. no. 3.