Lot 213: Willem Kalf (Rotterdam 1619 - 1693 Amsterdam)

Willem Kalf (Rotterdam 1619 - 1693 Amsterdam) Still life with a sugar bowl of Ming porcelain, a nautilus goblet, a golden goblet, a champagne glass, and a wine glass on an oriental rug, oil on canvas, 57 x 52 cm, the beautiful frame inlaid with tortoiseshell, (Wo) Provenance: Heinrich Wilhelm Campe Collection, Leipzig (?); comp. Fr. Winkler in his introduction to the auction catalogue of the Vieweg Collection, sale, Lepke, Berlin, 18 March 1930; Heinrich Vieweg Collection, Braunschweig; Helene Tepelmann-Vieweg Collection, Wendhausen Castle near Braunschweig; sale, Lempertz, Cologne, March 1963; Malmedé, art dealer, Cologne; Douwes, art dealer, Amsterdam (Spring catalogue, 1969, No. 19, repr.), sale, Fischer, Luzern, November-December 1970; sale, Sotheby's, London, May 1977. Literature: L. Grisebach, Willem Kalf, Berlin 1974, cat. no. 139, p. 278, fig. 150; also comp. Grisebach, cat. nos. 80 and 141. Exhibited: Amsterdam Historical Museum, C. I. N. O. A. Exhibition, "Kunsthandelaar en Verzamelaar", 1970, cat. no. 33-A, repr. Under the impression of the brilliant colours in Rembrandt's paintings from the late 1640s and the 1650s, Kalf gave up the monochromatic style of his early period in favour of deep, shining colours, textures rendered in a soft and painterly fashion, and a golden light combined with a rich chiaroscuro. This went hand in hand with the transition from horizontal to vertical formats, as well as with the development of a hitherto unknown splendour and harmony. The present magnificent breakfast still life is a perfect example of Kalf's art, and the description in Thieme-Becker fully applies to our painting as well: "Most of his paintings depict magnificent tables laid for breakfast: on a coloured marble plate or on a table covered with a rug, various combinations of fruit and all kinds of food, Chinese porcelain, splendid glasses, and silver and golden vessels are most tastefully arranged. There is hardly another painter of still lifes that equals Kalf in the perfect harmony of arrangement, the distribution of colours, and the delicate and painterly treatment of textures." Works by Willem Kalf are preserved in all the major museums and most renowned private collections around the globe. This year, an important exhibition on Kalf's still lifes, Painted Light - the Still Lifes of Willem Kalf (8 March-3 June 2007), was on display at the Suermondt-Ludwig Museum in Aachen. In the context of the present painting, the exhibition catalogue is of great relevance, as it includes numerous comparable examples and the most recent literature.