Signed “J. van Son” on the table
Provenance:
De Jonckheere Gallery ; Private collection
Considered as one of the great successors of the work of Jan Davidsz de Heem, Joris van Son...
read moreSigned “J. van Son” on the table
Provenance:
De Jonckheere Gallery ; Private collection
Considered as one of the great successors of the work of Jan Davidsz de Heem, Joris van Son became a master in the art of tables laden with fruit, embellished with pieces of gold- and silverware and precious objects. Each object, placed slightly obliquely, acquires its own particular presence, whether it be the shiny cherry, the flesh of the peach, the translucid grapes or the fig saturated with sugar.
Based on a model dear to the painter, our composition is governed in the same way as the still life kept at the Groeninge Museum in Bruges . Contrary to his usual compositions, the painter has not composed a painting based on sumptuous objects. And yet, the pewter plate, the wooden box and the crude cloth all participate magnificently in the success of this pyramid of fruit. The bunch of grapes, which forms the top of the whole, lies on a modest box, identical to the one found in many archaic French still lifes from the 17th century.
Joris van Son is a master at rendering different substances and in the use of colour. Downy, fleshy peaches form a sumptuous score. They echo the purplish Muscat grapes lying on the other side of the table. Delicate deep red cherries end this musical stave with three notes, one of which, precariously hanging over an empty space, seems to introduce an idea of instability into this well-organised whole. A common motif in the paintings of Joris van Son, this delightful detail can also be found in the painting kept in the museum in Leipzig . An open fig reveals its fleshy, juicy interior, a great particularity of this painting. Van Son depicts this fruit on another canvas, currently kept at the museum in Bruges .
A masterpiece of its kind, our still life with fruit benefits from a remarkable harmony of tones. The transparency of the colours particular to the grapes, and the impasto used for the peaches and the fig, are all proof of an astonishing know-how. The nuances of the textures and colours are amplified by the presence of the shimmering plate, the more opaque wooden box, and by the heavy, padded tablecloth, whose folds are carefully worked (similar to the still life with crabs in Ottawa ).
Acquired in the 17th century by the most important collectors in Antwerp, the works of Joris van Son express a pronounced taste for a voluptuous nature. Arriving in France thanks to the dealers established at the Foire Saint Germain, his paintings attracted imitators until late into the 17th century. Characteristic of this sensual yet restrained artist, this superb still life is sure to delight the most demanding art-lovers.
1623 – Antwerp – 1667
Born in Antwerp in 1623, where he lived until his death in 1667, Joris van Son entered the Guild of Saint Luke in 1643-1644. Although we are not entirely sure of his...
read more1623 – Antwerp – 1667
Born in Antwerp in 1623, where he lived until his death in 1667, Joris van Son entered the Guild of Saint Luke in 1643-1644. Although we are not entirely sure of his master’s name, it is likely that he was apprenticed to Jan Davidsz de Heem, who arrived in Antwerp in 1636.
The art of Joris van Son was recognised very early on and praised by many of his contemporaries. On a portrait painted by Erasmus Quellin II and engraved by Conrad Lauwers circa 1649, we can read the inscription “Excellent painter of fruit, flowers, etc.”. Cornelis de Bie also spoke of the master in particularly eulogistic terms.
Joris van Son can be considered as one of the best representatives of the still life painters of his day, following in the wake of Jan Davidsz de Heem.
His opulent paintings, sumptuously arranged yet more reserved than those by De Heem, are echoed in a brilliant palette with sparkling tones, which are always perfectly harmonised. The extreme refinement of his colours, in which we find the most exceptional and subtle nuances, combined with an innate sense of composition, characterise an art that is both sensual and restrained.
The artist’s studio was well known in its day and many painters came to do their apprenticeship here, including Corneille van Huynen, Jan Pauwell II Gillemans and Frans van Everbroeck.
