Attributed to Jan van den Hecke
Kwaremont, 1619/20 - Antwerp, 1684
A Flower Still Life with Carnations and other Flowers in a Glass Vase on a Table
Oil on panel
H. 51,4 cm. W. 40,2 cm.
PROVENANCE
Private collection, The Netherlands, formerly attributed to Rachel Ruysch (The Hague, 1664 – Amsterdam, 1750);
European Private collection
REFERENCE LITERATURE
Segal, S. (1982). Een bloemrijk verleden: Overzicht van de noord- en zuidnederlandse bloemschilderkunst, 1600- heden. Amsterdam, nr. 67;
Kuile, O. ter (1972). Collectie Scholten. Enschede: Rijksmuseum Twenthe, nr. 6, with ill.;
Willigen, A van der & Meijer, F.G. (2003). A dictionary of Dutch and Flemish still-life painters working in oils. 1525- 1725. Leiden: Primavera, p. 101
The present painting, depicting a small bouquet with carnations in a characteristic glass vase, can be attributed to the eclectic Antwerp still-life painter Jan van den Hecke the Elder. A similar compositional arrangement can be found in Flower still life with carnations, kept in the collection of Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede (inv. nr. 413). A second painting on canvas by Van den Hecke I follows a very similar compositional arrangement regarding the pink rose with the blue-white morning-glory placed behind it (Flower still-life, coll. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, inv. nr. GG 8313). That work is dated around 1650, suggesting that the present Flower Still Life with Carnations was possibly executed around 1650 as well. The blue morning-glory (Ipomoea purpurea) appear to be a favourite flower of Van den Hecke, which appears of various compositions from his hand.
Jan van den Hecke the Elder was a Flemish Baroque painter. According to the RKD he was registered in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke as an apprentice in 1636 and learned to paint from Abraham Hack (active between 1623 – 1639), who also taught his contemporary, the flower painter Hieronymus Galle. In 1641 Van den Hecke was registered as a master of the Guild. From 1653-1658 he was in Italy where he worked for the Duke Bracciano Paolo Giordano II Orsini in Rome. He may also have travelled in France. Somewhere in the mid-50's he went back and forth to the Low Counties, since he is also registered in Brussels during that period, where he possibly worked for Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. In 1659 he was back in Antwerp. In that year and the he took on two apprentices, Peeter vander Elstraeten (1659-60) and Peeter de Clerck (1672-73). De Clerck eventually became a master painter in the Guild. Van den Hecke's son Jan van den Hecke II became a popular flower painter.
