Philip van Kouwenbergh

Couwenbergh, Philip van
Kouwenberg, Philips van

Dutch, 1671 - 1729

Philip van Kouwenbergh, the son of Frans van Kouwenbergh, a sculptor, was baptized in Amsterdam in the Nieuwe Kerk on February 25, 1671. On September 11, 1694, he was betrothed to Cornelia van der Mars, whom he married on September 26 that year. The first of their three sons, Wilhelmus (Willem), was born the following spring and baptized in the Nieuwe Kerk on March 6. On January 31, 1721, Philip and Willem became burghers in Amsterdam. Having outlived his wife by almost ten years, Philip was buried in the Noorderkerkhof on March 11, 1729.

The few known paintings by Van Kouwenbergh are either flower pictures or woodland scenes containing ruins, flowers, and insects. Although no information about his artistic training exists, Meijer has suggested that Van Kouwenbergh might have studied with the still-life painter Elias van den Broeck (c. 1650–1708). Van den Broeck, having returned from Antwerp in 1685, was active in Amsterdam at the time Van Kouwenbergh would have been learning his trade. Documents indicate that Van Kouwenbergh’s paintings were on the market by 1694, so he had probably become an independent master by the time of his betrothal.

Explore selected works

A profusion of flowers mostly in ruby red, bright white, and flamingo pink are gathered in a bronze-colored urn, set on a stone ledge against a dark background in this vertical still life painting. A band of flowers reaching from the lower left to the upper right draw the eye, and are made up of a pink rose at the bottom under a white rose, a white-and-red streaked tulip, and a crimson-red poppy near the upper right. Other flowers include a sprig of pale, nearly white lilac to the left, sapphire-blue morning glories, golden stalks of wheat, and green leaves interspersed throughout. The urn has a fluted, flaring foot. Upon closer inspection we find that the foot must belong to a much larger vessel, for a terracotta-colored person reclining next to a stylized fish emerges from behind the flowers at the upper left. An ivory-white butterfly with an orange spot on each wing alights on the tulip, whose petals are spread wide. A snail with a marmalade-orange shell with a thin, shiny, black spiral crawls along the ledge to our right, and on the stone ledge to our left, an earwig eats a honey-yellow caterpillar. The flowers and insects are brightly lit from our left, and the chocolate-brown background is swallowed in shadow. A partially legible inscription in the lower right reads, “Kouwe be h.”
Philip van Kouwenbergh, Flowers in a Vase, c. 1700, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Draper Blair, 1976.26.2

Flowers in a Vase

Philip van Kouwenbergh · c. 1700 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1976.26.2

Bibliography

1988

  • Meijer, Fred G. "Philip van Kouwenbergh." Oud-Holland 102 (1988): 313-321.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 152.

2003

  • Willigen, Adriaan van der, and Fred G. Meijer. A dictionary of Dutch and Flemish still-life painters working in oils, 1525-1725. Leiden, 2003: 126-127.