Lot 582 | Elias van den Broeck | Forest Still Life with Butterflies and Frog

BROECK, ELIAS VAN DEN
1651 Antwerp - 1708 Amsterdam

Title: Forest Still Life with Butterflies and Frog.
Technique: Oil on wood.
Measurement: 29 x 21.5cm.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

This still life with undergrowth was long attributed to Carl Wilhelm De Hamilton until Fred G. Meijer recognized the characteristic features of Elias van den Broeck's style. The detailed rendering of each rib of the leaves, the stems of the flowers, and the wings of the butterflies, as well as the organic arrangement of the spatial elements, which not only stand side by side, but form a convincing dialogue, are in keeping with this artist's style.
There are still some unclear points in the biography of Van den Broeck, especially about his education. Based on the 18th century art historical sources, the artist was born in Antwerp and was considered the best apprentice of Ernst Stuven. According to more recent studies, he was trained instead by Cornelis Kick in Amsterdam and then arrived in the workshop of Jan Davidsz de Heem in Utrecht in 1669.
The painter was one of those artists who (like Otto Marseus van Schrieck) pressed real butterfly wings into the wet painting preparation instead of painting them, which is what was originally done in this painting. Van den Broeck painted all kinds of flowers, grasses, snakes, and salamanders that he could study in a garden created by himself for the needs of his profession as a still life painter.

We thank Fred G. Meijer, Amsterdam, for confirming the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a high-resolution digital photograph.