Lot 225: Ambrosius Bosschaert the Younger Arnemuiden 1609 - 1645 Utrecht , Still life with variegated Tulips, pink and white roses, a marigold fritillary, columbine and lily of the valley in a globose vase with a toad, all on a ledge

signed with a monogram and dated lower rigth: AB (in ligature) 1627 oil on panel

measurements note 18 3/8 by 12 in.; 46.7 by 30.5 cm.

Indianapolis, John Herron Institute; San Diego, Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego , Young Rembrandt and his Times , 1958, cat. no. 77 (as by Bosschaert the Younger).

W.R. Valentiner, Bulletin of the DIA, vol. 15, no. 3, 1936, p. 47, reproduced (as by Bosschaert the Elder);
E. Scheyer, Baroque Painting in the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1937, p. 59 (as by Bosshaert the Elder);
The Detroit Institute of Art, Catalogue of Piantings, 1944, p. 15, no. 439 (as by Bosshaert the Elder);
J.S. Berral, A History of Flower Arrangement, 1953, p. 32, reproduced fig. 31 (as by Bosschaert the Elder);
E.P. Richardson, Catalogue of the Whitcomb Gifts, 1954 (as by Bosschaert the Younger);
L.J. Bol, The Bosschaert Dynasty, Painters of Flowers and Fruit, Leigh-on-Sea, 1960, p. 92 (as by Bosschaert the Younger);
The Detroit Institute of Arts, A Checklist of Painitngs, 1965, p. 16 (as by Bosschaert the Younger).

With P. De Boer, Amsterdam;
Mrs. Anna Scripps Whicomb, Detroit;
By whom given to The Detroit Institute of Arts in 1935;
By whom sold, New York, Sotheby's, January 30, 1997, lot 29 for $134,000 to the present owner.

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
Ambrosius the Younger was the eldest son of Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, who was the earliest great specialist in flower painting in Northern Europe. As L.J. Bol notes in The Bosschaert Dynasty (see Literature), "... the composition and style [of the present lot] are typical of the early works of Ambrosius the Younger." That is, in the the compact and formal arrangments, with a slightly elevated vantage point, the painting reflects the widely accepted observation that Bosschaert was strongly under his father's stylistic influence prior to 1634. In fact the present work was for a long time considered to be by Ambrosius Bosschaert, the Elder (see Literature) Based upon firsthand inspection, Fred Meijer of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague, has confirmed the present painting to be an early work by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Younger.