The National Gallery has acquired one of the greatest examples of 17th-century Dutch still-life paintings – a rare picture, one of only 14 known to exist, by a pioneering painter of richly laid tables with a variety of objects and foodstuffs rendered in exquisite detail.
A Banquet Still Life (1622) by Delft-born Floris van Dijck (about 1575 ‒ before 1651) is the largest work by the artist to have survived and, within his small oeuvre, ranks as among his most impressive.
A superb example marking the beginning of the Dutch tradition of so-called banquet still life’s, van Dijck’s compositions are always seen as if from an elevated viewpoint.
'A Banquet Still Life' has been bought for £2.9 million from a private collection, acquired as a private treaty sale brokered by Sotheby’s.
This breakfast still life shows a richly laid table with fruit, olives, sweets and butter shavings in various blue-and- white Wan-Li Chinese export porcelain bowls, a stack of cheese and apples on pewter plates, a knife, a leather gourd, a stoneware Schnabelkanne (a beak-spouted ewer), a silver-gilt nautilus cup, a roemer, stemmed glass flutes, a pewter plate with spices and a slice of melon, and various scattered fruits, breads and nuts, all arranged upon a white lace and damask cloth laid over a red damask cloth covering a table.
Not much is known about van Dijck’s life other than that he was born in Delft, reportedly travelled and painted in Italy and was in Rome around 1600. From at least 1603 he worked in Haarlem. His second marriage in October 1627 to the wealthy Cornelia Jansdr Vlasmans meant that from then on he probably did not have to rely on his work as a painter to provide him with an income. This may help to explain why his oeuvre is so small.
Sir Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the National Gallery, says: ‘We are delighted to acquire for our Bicentenary this rare and ambitious still life painting by one of the most important Dutch artists of this genre - who is only known to have painted 14 pictures. I am very grateful to the legacies of Mrs Martha Doris Bailey and Mr Richard Hillman Bailey, with the support of the National Gallery Trust, and to Sotheby’s, for making this important addition to the Gallery’s collection possible.’
Main Image: Floris van Dijck, 'A Banquet Still Life', 1622 © The National Gallery, London.
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
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