Wild Strawberries and a Carnation in a Wan-Li Bowl
c. 1620
Artist, Flemish, 1582 - 1647
Jacob van Hulsdonck drew much of his artistic inspiration from Jan Breughel the Elder (1568–1625) in Antwerp and Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (1573–1621) in Middelburg, yet he painted with a clarity of form and composition quite different from either of these masters. This small and exquisite painting, executed on copper, captures the very best qualities of Van Hulsdonck's work. Set atop a plain wooden table, a beautifully articulated Wan-Li bowl is filled with wild strawberries and adorned by a single carnation, dramatically silhouetted against a dark background. This unexpected element adds tension to the visually simple yet luscious composition. The cherries, red and white currants, and random water droplets arrayed on the table form a pattern of circles that echo the round forms of the strawberries and the bowl. The droplets reinforce the still life's sense of fleeting freshness, and the transience of the moment is heightened by the presence of the delicate butterfly that has just alighted on a leaf and by the fly feasting on a berry. Though simple in its composition, this striking image captures the viewer's attention with its bold color contrasts and delicacy of execution.
This work beautifully complements the other early 17th-century still lifes in the Dutch cabinet galleries, particularly the fruit and flower pendants by Balthasar van der Ast (1593/1594–1657), an artist greatly influenced by Hulsdonck's paintings.
NGA, West Building, G-013-A
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on copper
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall (copper panel): 28.3 × 36.2 cm (11 1/8 × 14 1/4 in.)
overall (with wood strip edges): 29.6 × 37.3 cm (11 5/8 × 14 11/16 in.) -
Accession
2013.1.1
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
(Leonard Koetser, London), in 1963.[1] private collection, "the property of a lady"; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 25 November 1966, no. 44); (Leonard Koetser, London), until at least 1967. (Newhouse Galleries, New York); purchased 1974 by Robert H. Smith [1928-2009], Bethesda, Maryland; sold 1978 to (Essoldo Fine Arts Ltd., London).[2] (Galerie Julie Kraus, Paris). private collection, Germany, in 1983. (Charles Roelofsz, Amsterdam), in 1994.[3] (Bob P. Haboldt & Co., New York), in 1995. private collection; (sale, Sotheby's, London, 14 December 2000, no. 15); private collection, Germany; (sale, Sotheby's, London, 8 July 2009, no. 12); private collection, "property from a deceased's estate"; (sale, Sotheby's, London, 5 December 2012, no. 32); purchased by NGA with donated funds.
[1] Koetser exhibited the painting in his 1963 autumn exhibition; see T.H. Crombie, "Autumn Offerings: Mr. Leonard Koetser," Apollo 78, no. 20 (October 1963): 305, fig. 6.
[2] In the published record of the painting, Mr. Smith's name is placed at various points in the ownership sequence: between the 1983 German private collection and Haboldt & Co. in the three Sotheby's sale catalogues, but before the 1966 Christie's sale in the catalogue of a 1995 exhibition at Haboldt & Co. in New York. The actual dates have been confirmed by Smith collection records that document the purchase from Newhouse Galleries and the sale to Essoldo Fine Arts (copies in NGA curatorial files). It is not yet certain whether Mr. Smith's ownership came before or after the ownership by Galerie Julie Kraus.
[3] Roelofsz exhibited the painting at TEFAF (The European Fine Art Fair) in Maastricht, The Netherlands, in 1994.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1963
Autumn Exhibition, Leonard Koetser, London, 1963.
1967
Spring Exhibition, Leonard Koetser, London, 1967, no. 3, repro.
1983
A Fruitful Past: A Survey of the Fruit Still Lifes of the Northern and Southern Netherlands from Brueghel till Van Gogh, Gallery P. de Boer, Amsterdam; Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig, 1983, no. 27, repro.
1990
Flowers and Nature: Netherlandish Flower Painting of Four Centuries, Nabio Museum of Art, Osaka; Tokyo Station Gallery; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1990, no. 31, repro.
1995
Fifty Paintings by Old Masters, Bob P. Haboldt & Co., New York, 1995, no. 28, repro.
2021
Clouds, Ice, and Bounty: The Lee and Juliet Folger Fund Collection of Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2021, no. 12.repro.
Bibliography
1963
Crombie, Theodore. "Autumn Offerings: Mr. Leonard Koetser." Apollo 78, no. 20 (October 1963): 305, fig. 6.
1967
"The Leonard Koetser Spring Exhibition." The Connoisseur 164, no. 662 (April 1967): 253, fig. 3, as by Jacob van Hubdonck.
Christie, Manson & Woods. Christie's Review of the Year, October 1966 - July 1967. London, 1967: 30, repro.
1990
Segal, Sam. Flowers and Nature: Netherlandish Flower Painting of Four Centuries. Exh. cat. Nabio Museum of Art, Osaka; Tokyo Station Gallery; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Amstelveen and The Hague, 1990: 184-185, no. 31, repro.
2020
Libby, Alexandra. “From Personal Treasures to Public Gifts: The Flemish Painting Collection at the National Gallery of Art.” In America and the Art of Flanders: Collecting Paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and their Circles, edited by Esmée Quodbach. The Frick Collection Studies in the History of Art Collecting in America 5. University Park, 2020: 142.
Inscriptions
lower left, IVH in ligature: IVHVLSDONCK. FE
Wikidata ID
Q20177001