Lot 145: JACOB VAN WALSCAPELLE

JACOB VAN WALSCAPELLE DORDRECHT 1644 - 1727 AMSTERDAM A GARLAND OF FLOWERS AND FRUIT BOUND TOGETHER AT THE ENDS WITH BLUE RIBBON AND HANGING FROM TWO NAILS. signed lower right: Jacob: Walscapel. oil on canvas 23 1/2 by 32 1/2 in.; 59.7 by 82.6 cm.

Anonymous Sale, Cologne, Van Ham Kunstauktionen, 19 November 2004, lot 923;
With Richard Green Fine Paintings, London, 2004;
Private collection, Aachen.

Born Jacobus Cruydenier in Dordrecht in 1644, the artist adopted the surname of his maternal great-grandfather, Van Walscapel, and moved to Amsterdam sometime before 1666. There, according to Houbraken, he became the student of Cornelis Kick before entering the service of the municipal draper's hall in 1673, soon afterwards giving up painting in favor of his civic post, which he continued in for more than forty years. Although the majority of the artist's signed and dated works range from 1667 until 1685 and thus support Houbraken's statements, the appearance of a still life signed and dated 1699 on the London art market in 2003 has led scholars to reassess the timeline of Walscapelle's artistic career.(1)

Although an inventory taken in Dordrecht in 1729 lists an architectural painting by Walscapelle among its contents, the artist is today known as a painter of fruit and flowers. His early still lifes are clearly influenced by the work of his teacher Cornelis Kick; however, after about 1670, his greatest influence was the art of Jan Davidsz. de Heem, whose garlands and festoons of flowers inspired the present work.(2) The sumptuous garland here depicted is an extravaganza of velvety petals, crisp leaves, waxy plums and juicy grapes. The snail and butterflies that animate the garland add a touch of whimsy to the composition and suggest that the artist has here captured just a fleeting moment in time -- the butterflies will soon flit away and the snail will take shelter behind the heavy hydrangea blossom. Although the presence of the grapes, wheat and cut blossoms could be interpreted as having religious or vanitas significance, Walscapelle's garland can also be enjoyed on a purely material level, as a highly tactile, wonderfully detailed depiction of a beautiful object.


1. London, Sotheby's, 10 July 2003, lot 27; signed and dated Walscapel / F. 1699.
2. Examples of de Heem's garlands can be found in Karlsruhe, Antwerp, The Hague, and and a Festoon of Flowers and Fruit that was in the collection of Grand Prince Ferdinand de'Medici is conserved in the Palatine Gallery, Pitti Palace, Florence (inv. 1890, no. 1261).