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Lot 54

Harmen van Steenwyck
(Delft 1612-circa 1656)
Still life of a sculptural bust, a skull, an oil lamp and other items on a stone ledge

Old Master Paintings

5 July 2017, 14:00 BST

London, New Bond Street

Sold for £37,500 inc. premium

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Poppy Harvey-Jones

Head of Sale

Tel: +44 20 7468 8308

Poppy.Harvey-Jones@bonhams.com

Harmen van Steenwyck (Delft 1612-circa 1656)

Still life of a sculptural bust, a skull, an oil lamp and other items on a stone ledge
signed with initials 'HS' (on the book, lower right, in ligature)
oil on panel
60.8 x 81.8cm (23 15/16 x 32 3/16in).

Footnotes

Provenance
Private Collection, Ireland

This work shares many elements with Steenwyck's Still life: An allegory of the vanities of human life in the collection of the National Gallery, London (NG1256), most notably the unusual oil lamp and the Japanese inlaid sword. Both paintings demonstrate the artist's liking for diagonal compositions lit by a strong beam of light, and the fact that this light is directed onto the prominently-placed skull leaves little doubt that on one level these paintings were vanitas pieces, intended to remind the viewer of the fleeting nature of earthly pleasures and of life itself. The guttering oil lamp, the youths portrayed in the portrait and sculpture and the musical instruments all point to this common theme, and suggest that Steenwyck was aware of the vanitas paintings emanating from his contemporaries of the Leiden school. However, an alternative interpretation could suggest that the exotic grouping of shells, finely-crafted weapons from Asia, works of art, books and naturalia are the prized items of a collector's cabinet, encouraging us to spend what time is allotted to us on earth in the uplifting pursuit of culture.

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