Jan van Huysum

Jan 22, 2021

Sotheby's

oil on canvas canvas: 57 by 45 1/4 in.; 144.8 by 114.9 cm. framed: 64 1/2 by 51 1/4 in.; 163.8 by 130.2 cm.

May 27, 2020

Christie's

JAN VAN HUYSUM (AMSTERDAM 1682-1749) _Paysage avec deux pêcheurs tirant leur filet d'une rivière _

Jan 30, 2019

Sotheby's

Jan 17, 2019

Sotheby's

Jul 6, 2018

Christie's

Nov 14, 2017

Dorotheum

Oct 18, 2017

Christie's

Jul 5, 2017

Sotheby's

Jul 5, 2017

Sotheby's

We are grateful to Dr Fred G. Meijer of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague, for endorsing the attribution to Jan van Huysum (who should be correctly referred to as Van Huijsum, the spelling with which he most often wrote his name), listing this painting as ‘attributed to’ Van Huysum on the RKD database. His endorsement of the attribution is moderated only by the slightly worn condition of the present lot. Dr Meijer believes this still life to be a relatively early work by Van Huysum, dating to circa 1720. Jan van Huysum was known within his own life time to have been a brilliant, yet reclusive artist. His works were much in demand and he received important commissions from, among others, the Duc d’Orléans, Prince William of Hesse-Kassel, Frederick-Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and Frederick William I, King of Prussia, and yet he was notoriously secretive about his process. Any interest shown in his works by his fellow artists was interpreted as jealousy, and no one was allowed to enter his studio for fear that they would learn how he purified and applied his colours. Van Huysum's lasting fame owes much to his technical virtuosity, and the exuberant arrangements of flowers and fruits. The masterful inclusion of bugs and insects among the elements of the still life, and the silhouetting of pale stems and tendrils against a dark back ground, as we see in this elegantly balanced still life, are typical of the artist.

May 20, 2017

Kunsthaus Lempertz