Lot 122: AMBROSIUS BOSSCHAERT THE YOUNGER

AMBROSIUS BOSSCHAERT THE YOUNGER ARNEMUIDEN 1609 - 1645 UTRECHT STILL LIFE WITH TULIPS, ROSES, MARIGOLDS AND OTHER FLOWERS IN A GLASS VASE WITH A LADYBIRD AND A CATERPILLAR, ALL ON A LEDGE oil on oak panel 34.2 by 24 cm.; 13 1/2 by 9 1/2 in.

Ambrosius Bosschaert the Younger's early style was heavily influenced by the paintings of his father Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, the first artist to specialise in flower painting. It was only in the last century that their oeuvre was definitively separated.

The high viewpoint is a recurring element in his early work. A similar but earlier panel from 1627 sold in these Rooms shows the artist finding his independence and moving away from his father's style with a less crowded composition.υ1 Another panel, smaller in size but similar in design, was with the Engel Gallery, London in 1967.υ2 That work is dated 1632 and provides a useful comparison for the dating of the present work. The artist uses the same vase with a similar reflection of the window and has arranged the flowers in an equally asymmetrical fashion, including the careful placing of a petal to the left of the vase.

We are grateful to Drs. Fred G. Meijer of the R.K.D. for endorsing the attribution to Ambrosius Bosschaert the Younger after first-hand inspection and for dating the work to the early 1630s.


1. Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 10 July 2008, lot 155, for £70,000.
2. R.K.D. no. 122900.