Open IIIF manifest What is IIIF IIIF viewers

Study for a flower piece

Maker

(artist)
1682-1749

Title

Date of Production

1700 - 1799

Medium

graphite, pen and brown ink, brown wash on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 20.3 cm
Width: 25 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.2123

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

Van Huysum was perhaps the most successful and widely admired flower painter of the eighteenth century. It was often presumed that he worked exclusively from life. One English admirer wrote in 1811 that "His pictures are finished with inconceivable truth, for he painted everything after nature...". Close inspection of this study suggests a rather more methodical practice. Not only has van Huysum used the drawing to determine the balance of light and shade, but he has also prepared for the distribution of colour by numbering the various flowers from 1 to 18.

Provenance

Prince Wladimir Nikolaevitch Argoutinsky-Dolgoroukoff, Paris (1875-1941), L.2602d; R.W.P. de Vries (Amsterdam); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, n.d. (50 shillings); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Second Nature, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/06/2000-03/09/2000

Literature

Aidin, Rose, 'Back to Life' review of 'Second Nature', 25 August 2000
p. 48

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: upper centre edge, fragment: scrollwork? Unable to see clearly.

Inscription: Recto: within the drawing, brown ink, artist’s hand: areas of the drawing numbered for colouring, some numbers repeated, from “1” to “18”. Verso: left lower edge, graphite, underlined: “4”; lower right, graphite, circled: “11”.

Collector's mark: Recto: lower right corner, stamped in black ink: Prince Wladimir Nikolaevitch Argoutinsky-Dolgoroukoff (L.2602d). Verso: lower left corner, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

Information on this object may be incomplete and will be updated as research progresses. We are particularly committed to addressing any discriminatory or offensive language and ideas that might be present in our records. To help improve this record, and to enquire about images of The Courtauld Gallery Collection, please email gallery.collectionsonline@courtauld.ac.uk. Find out more about using and licensing our images.

____________________________

Buy a print from our collection