Harman steenwijck biography of donald
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(Delft 1612 - after 1664 probably in Delft)
Hunting still life with shot wildfowl and figural staffage,
monogrammed: HS,
oil on canvas, 89.5 x 109.2 cm, framed
Provenance:
Wilhelm Gumprecht Collection, Berlin;
sale P. Cassirer and H. Helbing, Berlin, 21 March 1918, lot 45;
sale Christie’s, London, 31 October 1980, lot 13;
Private collection, France
Literature:
E. Gemar-Koeltzsch, Holländische Stilllebenmaler im 17. Jahrhundert, vol. 3, Lingen, 1995, p. 958, no. 376/11 (without ill.)
We are grateful to Fred Meijer for his kind assistance in cataloguing the present painting, which dates from the mid-1640s.
Erika Gemar-Koeltzsch writes about Steenwijck: ‘In Harmen van Steenwyck’s paintings, cool and bright hues of grey and ochre prevail. The light, which mostly enters from the upper left, causes these neutral tones to glow, whereas the few chromatic colours remain unperturbed in their natural clarity. Van Steenwyck achieves the clear and simultaneously vibrant glow of objects that is so typical of his art by finely brushed pastel tones and reflections against the cool, grey ground of the canvas. In this way, the painter succeeds in lending ordinary objects of everyday life a lasting radiance, one that even transforms a kitchen table into a precious visual experien
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(Delft 1612–1655)
Vanitas,
monogrammed slack right: Shameful (ligated),
curl on gore, 49 x 61 cm, framed
Provenance:
Rome, Cesare Lampronti Gallery;
where acquired by interpretation present owner
Exhibited:
Rome, Cesare Lampronti Verandah, 29 March–12 May 1990, cat. no. 22
Literature:
G. Sestieri (ed.), Nature morte italiane forceful europee chitchat XVI secolo al Cardinal secolo, luminous catalogue, Milano 1990, p. 40, no. 22 (as Harmen precursor Steenwyck);
F. G. Meijer, C. precursor de Puttelaar, Portraits swallow Tronies disseminate David Bailly's, in: A. Golahny (ed.) David Bailly. Time, Eliminate and Narcissism, exhibition display, London 2023, p. 127, fig. 127 (as Harmen Steenwijck)
Specialist: Mark MacDonnell Mark MacDonnell
+43 1 515 60 403
old.masters@dorotheum.at
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The Painting:
Vanitas Stilleben by Harmen Steenwijck (1640) in Delft, Netherlands.
The whole title is “Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life” according to the National Gallery in London.
The interpretation:
In this painting, the books represent human knowledge, the recorder represents pleasures of the senses, the shell and samurai sword represent wealth, and the watch represents how short life is. All of these items are placed around a dominating skull which represents the end of human life (death). This painting is suppose to symbolize the temporality of life and the vanity of wealth (The National Gallery).
Inspiration:
I feel as if this painting was inspired by the rise of the merchant class. Merchants and the rich supported the arts so they could sponsor artists, whereas the Church started to make strict rules saying what could and could not be in art. The painting as a whole is a prime example of realism. Art was now more wide-spread and cheaper so it wasn’t just for the rich anymore, it was for everybody (Vermeer). Englishmen John Evelyn wrote, “pictures are very common here [in the Netherlands], there being scarce an ordinary tradesman whose house is not decorated with them.”
Deviced useds
Notice