Lot 53: Irises, tulips, roses and lily of the valley in a vase with a lizard, a butterfly and a dragonfly before a niche

Balthasar van der Ast (Middelburg ?1593-1657 Delft) Irises, tulips, roses and lily of the valley in a vase with a lizard, a butterfly and a dragonfly before a niche signed '.B.van der.ast' (lower left, on the ledge) oil on panel 19 1/8 x 14¼ in. (48.5 x 36.2 cm.)

Hanover, Landesmuseum, on loan 1999-2006.

with Eugene Slater Gallery, London, 1956.
Alexander Thayer.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's London, 2 December 1964, lot 29 (200 gns. to Leggatt).

From 1619, when he settled in Utrecht, Baltasar van der Ast's pictures show an increasing independence from the influence of his cousin and teacher, Ambrosius Bosschaert. His still lifes from his Utrecht period show that he was aware of the rare still lifes of Roelandt Savery, who had settled in the same city, also in 1619. While the lizard is repeated in several other compositions of the same date, it is apparently only in the present painting that the sinuous tail, curving to the right, acts as a counterfoil to the handle of the graceful metal mounted jug.