Balthazar van der Ast

Still life with a bouquet and shells

Panel - 37 x 28.5 cm - Signed

Still lifes

Monogrammed.

Provenance:

• sale Frederik Muller, Amsterdam, 14 May 1912, lot no. 102;

• Treusch von Buttlar Collection, Brandenfels;

• sale Sotheby’s, London, 11 March 1964, lot no. 132;

•...

Monogrammed.

Provenance:

• sale Frederik Muller, Amsterdam, 14 May 1912, lot no. 102;

• Treusch von Buttlar Collection, Brandenfels;

• sale Sotheby’s, London, 11 March 1964, lot no. 132;

• private collection.

Inheriting Bosschaert’s perfect command of style and all the poetic finesse of Savery, Balthazar van der Ast is now considered as one of the main players in Dutch painting at the beginning of the 17th century. Faithful to his Flemish origins and indebted in some ways to the Antwerp mannerist school, this work is characteristic of the intellectual and artistic climate that reigned in the Republic of the United Provinces after 1600. Indeed, this still life manages to combine the precision of realism and the magic of poetry. This type of painting should enchant both art-lovers and scientists avid for botanic reality.

The observation of flowers was supposed to provoke a sensorial experience among viewers, leading them to question themselves. The feeling of astonishment due to the quality of the painting was followed by a reflection upon our five senses and how they can be fooled. This was followed by deeper questioning about the meaning of existence, based on a comparison between the short life of a flower and human existence.

Our bouquet is composed of multicoloured irises, tulips and roses. Their finely drawn buds stand out against the dark, muted background of the painting, creating a sense of depth. Remarkably executed, the vase melts into this chiaroscuro. The painter’s brush plays with light and shade while mastering the optical effect linked to the stalks bathing in water. The base of the vase has a highly original shape, formed by small glass balls. The other elements in our still life are delicately and harmoniously arranged on a sober table. Shells and insects participate in the virtuosity of the whole. A big conch shell has a wonderfully mottled effect, with its network of veins vacillating between ochre and orange. As for the small shell, it is painted very realistically with its pronounced bumps.

Executed with a particularly refined technique and extreme distinction, this wooden panel exudes a graceful retinue. Balthazar van der Ast brings out the allegorical theme of the fragility of beauty, with motifs such as the fly and millipede which discretely animate the painting.

More informations

Middelburg 1593 - Delft 1657

Balthazar Van der Ast was born in Middelburg in 1593 into a rich family of merchants. When his parents died in 1609, he was confronted with painting for the first...

Middelburg 1593 - Delft 1657

Balthazar Van der Ast was born in Middelburg in 1593 into a rich family of merchants. When his parents died in 1609, he was confronted with painting for the first time. He went to live with his older sister Maria, who was married to the famous still-life painter, Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder. Taking his wife’s younger brother under his wing, the painter put Van der Ast to work as an apprentice in his studio until 1615. When he moved to Utrecht, Balthazar registered with the corporation of painters in 1619. He left for Delft in 1632 and is cited as belonging to the guild of painters. He married Magrieta van Bueren and lived in this town until his death in 1657.
The influence of Ambrosius Bosschaert was a determining factor in the career of Balthazar van der Ast. His choice of subjects, his taste for elaborate compositions, and his skilful stroke which allowed him to excel in finesse and virtuosity, all bear witness to the perfection of his apprenticeship with the founder of the brilliant Middelburg school. However, the charm of his works and the inventiveness of his compositions are based on his very personal approach to still life: he manages to combine the technical perfection of his drawing with the poetry of the whole. With a great love of perfection, he executed his paintings with the delicacy and precision of a miniaturist while never losing sight of the need to create a feeling of poetic wonder among his viewers. In order to fill out and enrich his paintings, the artist never hesitated to add bowls, china dishes, wicker baskets, as well as whimsically-shaped shells evoking far-off lands.
Alongside Roelandt Savery, he shared a great interest in small animals, shells and insects, introducing them into his paintings. Attracted by an intellectual, ideal and harmonious vision of nature, van der Ast could generate a feeling of wonder in his works owing to the excellent tactile rendering of the plants and animals, while raising the viewer’s state of mind by leading him to a more contemplative approach.

Balthazar van der Ast made a great contribution to the history of painting, broadening and extending the theme of the still life. Besides seeking pictorial realism, he took care to choose bright colours that gave the light an almost unreal luminous aspect. This highly talented painter successfully assimilated and renewed the genre by mixing the talent and finesse of Bosschaert with the sensitivity of Savery. His work represents the quintessence of still-life painting in the 17th century, in which the balanced arrangement of the flowers and the tactile rendering of the objects also contained a profoundly moral thought: the vanity of the plants suggesting the destiny of man.