(Amsterdam 1632–1687)
A helmet decorated with ostrich feathers, a violin, a trumpet, a skull and other objects on a table with a young man behind,
indistinctly signed lower centre: J. van Streek,
oil on canvas, 112 x 95 cm, framed

Provenance:
possibly sale, Amsterdam, 17 April 1708, lot 375;
sale, Amsterdam, 3 October 1708, lot 96;
probably sale, Lempertz, Cologne, 10 May 1916, lot 100

We are grateful to Fred Meijer for confirming the attribution on the basis of high-resolution photographs.

The present dramatic and meticulously rendered scene is an enticing and enigmatic example of the oeuvre of Juriaan van Streeck, one of the most intriguing Amsterdam masters of the late Dutch Golden Age. The noble archaic helmet with its ostrich feather plume, the antiquated ‘Burgundian’ dress of the figure in the background and the beautifully rendered skull mark this work out as a so-called vanitas still life. Fred Meijer believes the present work to reflect a real-world view of the van Streeck’s workshop, and compares it with a similar work conserved in Muiderslot Castle, the Netherlands. Beyond the obvious memento mori insinuation, the meaning of the present work is rendered even more complex by the depiction of a title page, contrasted with the green velvet drape upon the table. This reads as Aran en Titus, of Wraak en Weerwraak or ‘Aran and Titus, or Revenge and Counter Revenge’, and immensely popular tragedy of the time, by playwright Jan Vos (1610–1667).

Van Streeck is the archetypal late Amsterdam still life painter, having had his workshop in several locations throughout the city, from the Jordaan to the upmarket Prinsengracht. Although van Streeck worked in the style of Willem Kalf, little is known of where he trained, but he excelled, in rendering earthly symbols of beauty and invention, but also transience, such as the skull and violin seen in the present work.