(Haarlem 1619/20 – after 1663 Enkhuizen or Amsterdam)
A still life with a ‘Roemer’ of white wine, a pastry, a roll, a peeled lemon and grapes,
signed and dated lower right: J V VELDE/ANNO/1640,
oil on panel, 60 x 84.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Southern Germany

In a written communication to the owner, dated 23rd December 1996, Fred Meijer of the RKD, The Hague, confirmed the present painting to be an autograph work by Jan Jansz. van de Velde. He compares it to two still lifes dating from 1639 now in the museums of Liberec (Czech Republic) and Lemberg (Ukraine). According to Fred Meijer, the present painting was produced some time between these two pictures and a work from 1640 in an English private collection. In Lexikon der holländischen Stilllebenmaler im 17. Jahrhundert, one can read about Van de Velde: “Bol described Jan Jansz. van de Velde as a ‘great master of small detail’. Van de Velde mostly limits himself to a modest selection of objects arranged on a table. Occasionally, a glass of beer, a white clay pipe and a pewter plate, several nuts, and a deck of cards suffice for him to create an accomplished composition […]. Only the sum of these seemingly coincidentally arranged items evokes the harmony that is inherent to Van de Velde’s paintings and which also lends a sublime quality to objects of everyday life.”