Lot 112: Fornenburgh, Jan Baptist vancirca 1585 Antwerp - 1649 The Hague Flower Still-Life with a Salamander.

Fornenburgh, Jan Baptist van
circa 1585 Antwerp - 1649 The Hague

Flower Still-Life with a Salamander.
Monogrammed left on the base: IB.F.. Oil on wood. 73 x 58cm. Framed.

Verso: former labels and remains of adhesive label.

Provenance:
Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia.

Listed and illustrated in:
- Art Dealing Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder (Ed.): Haagse Schilders in de Gouden Eeuw. Het
Hoogsteder Lexicon van alle schilders werkzaam in Den Haag 1600 - 1700. Den Haag 1998. p.
128ff, ill. 2.

The first written reference to Fornenburgh dates back to 1621 in Amsterdam where he was active as an art expert. He sold art for an Antwerp art dealer selling 24 Pietè paintings to the painter Jacob van Nieulandt. That means he would have already had experience in that domain. Later he and his family settled in The Hague, where he was admitted to the guild in 1629, where he remained active until his death in 1649.

His apparently excellent contacts with the Delft painters' and art dealers' community could have been the reason for his work being listed in numerous 17th Century inventories. Today, however, only a few of his painting are known.

Fornenburgh, who had exclusively specialised in still-lifes, arranged his flower bouquetts in glass or chinois vases preferably against wall niches. Flowers, strictly arranged side by side, are typical of his work. Often, insects or fallen flower pedals enliven the mostly static compositions. His stylistic proximity to Jan Bosschaert's School has frequently led to wrong attributions; presumably Fornenburgh was trained by a representative of the school.

Beaujean, Dieter: Allgemeines Künslterlexikon.