Lot 9: Jacques Grief de Claeuw (Dordrecht 1620-circa 1676 ?) A Vanitas

A Vanitas with a skull, musical instruments, books, a letter and playing cards on a table top
signed with initials and dated 'JDC 1645' (on book, centre)
oil on panel
41 x 50.8cm (16 1/8 x 20in).

PROVENANCE:
With A. Brod Gallery, London, 1956
Where purchased by the parents of the present owners

One of the relatively few works known by Jacques de Claeuw, the present painting is typical of the artist's vanitas still lifes. Having completed his training under the marine and still-life painter Abraham van Beyeren, de Claeuw worked in Dordrecht, The Hague and Leiden between 1642 and 1665, making the present painting a relatively early work. He went on to marry Maria van Goyen, daughter of the landscape painter Josef van Goyen, in 1651 and was also the brother-in-law of the interior painter Jan Steen.