Lot 114
何東 Property from the Personal Collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung
Jacob van Hulsdonck
Antwerp 1582 - 1647
Still life with a herring, cheese, preserved fruits and nuts, bread, butter, and a wineglass and jug, all on a draped table
signed lower left: ·IVHVLSDONCK·FE· (IVH in ligature)
oil on panel, with a prepared reverse
panel: 18¼ by 27½ in.; 46.5 by 69.9 cm.
framed: 26 by 34¾ in.; 66 by 88.3 cm.
Condition Report
Provenance
With Somerville & Simpson, London;
From whom acquired, 1982.
Catalogue note
Jacob van Hulsdonck was an important pioneer in the development of still life painting. He was born in Antwerp at the end of the 16th century, but as the son of Flemish Protestants, settled in Middelburg for a period of time in his early life. It is believed that while there Hulsdonck received his first training from Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder. He later returned to Antwerp, one of the earliest artistic centres for still life painting as an independent genre. Hulsdonck joined the Antwerp guild as a master in 1608 and was here undoubtedly influenced and inspired by the depiction of flowers and food through the works of those Flemish artists who were innovating in the field – such as Frans Snijders, Osias Beert, and Jan Brueghel the Elder.
Despite a long career of almost forty years, fewer than a hundred works by Hulsdonck are known, all of which are still lifes. Although the artist signed or monogrammed over half of his paintings, there appears to be only one dated example (an early Breakfast Piece of 1614, today in the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle),1 and since Hulsdonck's handling remains fairly consistent throughout his œuvre, it is difficult to establish a chronology of his work. The majority of Hulsdonck's designs depict diverse fruits, usually placed in porcelain bowls or wicker baskets. This painting is one of a very small number of lavish displays of food displayed on a tabletop, commonly referred to as "breakfast pieces." The present painting may well have been painted in the years between 1615-20, like his other works of this type, although it differs from these in its lower and more focused viewpoint.
This painting is defined by the clarity of illumination, refinement of detail, and a simultaneous simplicity and complexity of design, representative of Hulsdonck's work at its most elegant. The painting combines everyday objects and food, such as the herring on the earthenware plate, or even the magnificent cheese that dominates the center of the composition, with more rare and luxurious items, including the fine wineglass, and the delicate imported porcelain bowl and plate, which hold butter, almonds, raisins and dried figs, not to mention the precariously balanced knife with an ornate handle. As with many still lifes of this period, some of the motifs here are repeated in other works by Hulsdonck, namely the herring on the plate, and the bread roll at left; other elements, however, including the plate of dried fruit, the strips of fish on the right, and the neatly folded, patterned cloth, appear to be features unique to this painting.
Hulsdonck takes prodigious care over the depiction of the variety of surfaces and textures of all of these objects, and the delightful sense of illusion is heightened by the half-cut or eaten food, as if whoever has been enjoying this spread has only just now temporarily left the table, giving leave to the flies and the small beetle – another unusual detail in Hulsdonck’s paintings of this type – to participate in the feast.
1 Inv. no. B.M.99.