Beskrivning: Se även beskrivning i den engelska versionen

Catalogue 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]

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Jan Dirven | Stilleben med fiskar | Nationalmuseum