Still Life with Fish
Artist/Maker
DatesSigned: Sign. 1648
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 38 x 52 cm h x w x d: Ram 49 x 63 x 5 cm
Inventory numberNM 729
Other titlesTitle (sv): Stilleben med fiskar Title (en): Still Life with Fish Alternative title: Still Life with Carp, Bass, Crabs and Oysters
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 64: Technical notes: The support, an oak panel (±0.3–0.4 cm thick) constructed of two butt-joined, horizontal boards with a horizontal grain, is bevelled on the verso along the top, left and right edges. The panel has been thinned at a later date and a cradle attached. Conservation records indicate that the panel was cradled in 1943. Dendrochronological analysis has determined a felling date for the tree between c. 1634 and 1644. With two years of seasoning, the panel would thus have been available for use by 1636 at the earliest. The verso of the panel carries the (damaged) brand of the city of Antwerp – two hands and a castle – used as a guarantee of quality by the city’s Guild of St. Luke since 1617. The panel, which has been coated with wax on the verso, is structurally sound except for a slight convex warp across the grain and several short horizontal checks, mainly in the upper board. Infrared reflectography revealed traces of a dark underdrawing in a dry medium (black chalk?) in the contours of the largest fish and, possibly, also a brushapplied dark underdrawing delineating the contour along the top of the oyster. A pentimento during the painting stage is visible in the mouth of the largest fish, which was initially painted in a more forward position towards the left. The panel was prepared with a medium thick, smooth, white ground layer, probably chalk, that completely covers the wood grain. This is followed by a very thin, semitransparent, streaky, light grey imprimatura layer, applied with a brush, which covers the entire surface and remains visible in many areas of the background and the fish in the foreground. Dark underdrawing in a dry medium (chalk?) along the contours of the large carp in the foreground was made partially visible during examination with infrared reflectography. Paint was applied thinly and fluidly over the ground in opaque and semi-transparent layers, with low impasto in the whites, such as the fish in the foreground and the oyster on the upper right and the opaque white highlights on the fish, crab, mussels, oyster, basket and water droplets on the fish and table in the foreground. The application of paint in the background is characterized by vigorous brushwork. There are losses of ground and paint layers along the edges of the panel. Retouching is present in the right top and bottom corners and covers losses along both checks and the join at the left. The painting underwent conservation treatment in 1977. Provenance: KM 1816, no. 385. Exhibited: Stockholm 2010, no. 57. Bibliography: Sander IV, p. 88 (as J. D., unknown Master); Göthe 1887, p. 125 (as J. D., unknown Netherlandish Master around 1648); Göthe 1893, p. 158 (as J.D., Dutch Master around 1648); Göthe 1900, p. 163 (as J.D., Dutch Master around 1648); Göthe 1910, p. 177 (as Dutch Master around 1648); Bergström 1947, no. 196 (as Isaac van Duijnen); NM Cat. 1958, p. 66 (as Isaac van Duynen); NM Cat. 1990, p. 123; Willigen and Meijer 2003, p. 74 (as Jan Dirven). Jan Dirven is often confused with Isaac van Duijnen because of the similarity of their monograms. Earlier this painting has often been attributed to Van Duijnen. Fred Meijer (2003), however, attributed the painting to Jan Dirven. Great similarities exists between this and other fish still lifes by the painter in Darmstadt and Vienna. 1 Dirven presented his fish as part of a catch, combined with items of fishing gear such as nets and fishing rods. Judging from the style of the few known fish still lifes of this master, he must have been active in Holland, probably in The Hague. GCB 1 Darmstadt, Hessisches Landesmuseum, signed “J.dirven. f. 1649”, 64 x 49 and Vienna Academy, signed “JvD 1648”, 45.3 x 61.5 (legaat A.von Wurzbach 1954).[End]
Motif categoryStill life
Collection
TechniquePainting
Object category
Keyword
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