Lot 37: Franciscus Gijsbrechts , Active 1672 - in or after 1676 A trompe l'oeil with a painting of a vanitas still life with a skull, a silver gilt chalice, a candlestick, a flute, documents and other objects standing on a wooden ledge with paint-brushes, a

signed lower left on the paper: f Gysbregt oil on canvas, unlined, with later additions to the shaped top and lower edge

measurements note 151.5 by 98.2 cm.

Jacques Heinrich Bassenge I (1776-1840), Dresden, by 1812;
Thence by descent to his son, Jacques Heinrich Bassenge II (1805-1893), Dresden;
Thence by descent to his daughter, Friederike Bassenge (1832-1901), Dresden;
Thence by descent to her daughter, Johanna Held, (1967-1923), Dresden, by 1926;
Thence by descent.

THE PROPERTY OF A GERMAN FAMILY
Franciscus Gijsbrechts joined the Antwerp painter's guild in 1676. Although his works and those of the trompe l'oeil painter Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts (active 1657-in or after 1684), who had joined the guild in 1660, show a remarkable similarity, their relation to each other is not entirely certain. Cornelis cannot be his father, as he was still a bachelor in 1659, therefore Franciscus was probably his nephew. Not much is known about his career and travels, but it seems highly likely that Franciscus accompanied Cornelis on his travels to Denmark. The fact that one of Franciscus' signed paintings turns up in inventory lists of the Kunstkammer of the Danish Court dated 1689 and 1737, suggests that he too had contact with the Danish Court.υ1He was also most likely in Leiden in 1674.υ2

In this painting we see a trompe l'oeil of a vanitas still life painting leaning against a wooden wall, accompanied by objects of a painter's workshop, such as the pallette and the brushes. Trompe l'oeils such as this, represent a small part of his oeuvre, as Franciscus focused more on pure vanitas paintings. It can be compared to a work by Cornelis, in the Statens Museum, Copenhagen (inv. no. 242), which shows a similar composition and is also accompanied by painterly attributes (see fig. 2). Both artists indeed used the same range of objects in their paintings. Typical for Franciscus is the skull with the open jaw in which often the same document is folded, together with other precious objects, see for example the one which was sold, Milan, Finarte, 8/9 June 1983, lot 687 (see fig. 1).

The painting has an interesting history. According to tradition, while hanging at the residence of the Bassenge collection during the Battle of Dresden on 26/27 August 1813, it was riddled with bullets, as can still be observed in the restored canvas. The shaped top with a blue draped cloth and the lower edge are later additions. 1. O. Koetser, C. Brusati, Illusions: Gijsbrechts: Royal Master of Deception, Copenhagen 1999, p. 42. In this inventory list the painting was attributed to Cornelis, in spite of the signature by Franciscus.
2. A. van der Willigen en F. G. Meijer, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-life Painters Working in Oils 1525-1725, Leiden 2003, p. 90.