Lot 55: ADRIAEN COORTE

STILL LIFE WITH A PEACH AND TWO APRICOTS ON A STONE LEDGE, TOGETHER WITH TWO BUTTERFLIES
signed and dated lower right: A , Coorte , i692 ,

26.1 by 20.8 cm.

oil on paper laid down on panel

Q. Buvelot, 'Toevoegingen aan het oeuvre van Adriaen Coorte (werkzaam c.1683-1707)', in Oud Holland (forthcoming).

Possibly Daniël Schorer, clerk at the court of Flanders, Middelburg;
Possibly his sale Middelburg, 15 April 1771, either no. 49 or 50: 'A. Coorte. Een fraay Fruytstukje 10½ [x] 8 [duim = 26.2 x 20 cm]' and 'Een dito niet minder als 't voorgaande, zynde een weerga 10½ [x] 8 [duim = 26.2 x 20 cm]' (see previous lot, note 2);
In the family of the present owner for at least a 100 years.

We are grateful to Quentin Buvelot, senior curator at The Mauritshuis, The Hague, for writing the following note:

Until 1689, Coorte made still lifes with various kinds of fruit and vegetables on a stone table, after which he appears to have stopped working temporarily; with the exception of Still life with a spray of gooseberries from 1693, (1 )no dated paintings could be identified for the period 1689-1695. The present lot, a fruit still-life, is an important addition to Coorte's oeuvre, since it is dated 1692.

Many different kinds of seasonal fruit occur in Coorte's work. Strawberries and gooseberries occur with the greatest frequency (see previous lot). Apples and pears are completely absent from his extant work, and citrus fruit are the primary motif in only one work. Other fruit, such as peaches and apricots, are encountered more frequently. Coorte painted both primarily in combination with other fruit, but in two paintings from 1698 and 1704, apricots are the only subject. Peaches are the primary motif in three works dating from about 1693-1695, 1696 and 1705. In another painting, which was probably made after 1696, Coorte combined peaches and apricots, as he did here. In one still life from 1699, which is strikingly full of rich detail, Coorte painted apricots, peaches and grapes on a table, the only time his work features this combination. In one of Coorte's paintings, Still Life with Two Peaches and a Butterfly, painted about 1693-1695 (private collection), we see a peach that is painted like the one here (fig 1). (2)

Coorte devoted himself entirely to still lifes, scenes containing scarcely a single living creature. One occasionally sees a butterfly, the earliest examples being paintings from 1685. Here the painter included two butterflies in the scene. One of these insects appears to have just flown into the scene, enlivening the dark background and introducing more balance into the composition. The second butterfly is given a more static presentation by being depicted seen from above, with outstretched wings.

Characteristic for Coorte is that he painted on paper. Almost two-thirds of Coorte's oeuvre was painted on paper that was subsequently pasted to panels, or sometimes to canvas. In the case of 31 paintings, the paper was pasted to a panel, as is the case here as well as in that of the previous lot.

1. See Q. Buvelot, The still lifes of Adriaen Coorte (active c.1683-1707) with oeuvre catalogue, exhibition catalogue, Zwolle 2008, p. 88, cat. no. 12, reproduced.
2. Sale, London, Sotheby's, 5 July 2006, lot 36; op.cit., p. 92, cat. no. 17, reproduced.