A Graduate of Pomona
Jan van Huysum (Dutch, 1682 - 1749), Still Life of Flowers
Jan van Huysum
Still Life of Flowers
Formerly at Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
Oil on canvas
29 3/8 iX 21 1/2 in., 74.7 X 54.6 cm.
In the eighteenth century, the still lifes of Jan van Huysum were among the most sought after and valuable paintings in Europe. His best works still command enormous prices, at least enormous for old master paintings. I had greatly admired this painting on visits to the Kimbell Art Museum; even though it was not as large as the two outstanding paintings by van Huysum at the Getty Center, it seemed to be of similar, high quality. The author of the entry for the painting in the 1972 catalogue of works in the Kimbell collection, identified this still life as "a superb example of this Dutch specialist's luxuriant flower pieces...."
I was therefore understandably surprised when this, one of he better paintings by the greatest of all painters of flowers, was consigned for sale to Sotheby's in the late 1990s. When I asked the Sotheby's specialist on old master paintings if he knew why it was being sold, I was told that a curator or director at the Kimbell wanted a spectacular van Huysum, such as the two at the Getty.
Well, about 25 years have passed, during which time at least a half-dozen spectacular flower pieces by the artist have gone through the auction houses or appeared as new acquisitions on museum walls (at the National Galleries of Scotland and Washington, D.C.), yet no painting by this important artist has made its way to Fort Worth. Who am I to second guess a curator, but I would have thought it better to have waited to deaccession until after a superior work was purchased than it was to go for at least a quarter of a century without having any example, not even an extremely nice one, hanging on a wall in Texas.
Jan van Huysum (Dutch, 1682 - 1749), Still Life of Flowers
Jan van Huysum
Still Life of Flowers
Formerly at Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
Oil on canvas
29 3/8 iX 21 1/2 in., 74.7 X 54.6 cm.
In the eighteenth century, the still lifes of Jan van Huysum were among the most sought after and valuable paintings in Europe. His best works still command enormous prices, at least enormous for old master paintings. I had greatly admired this painting on visits to the Kimbell Art Museum; even though it was not as large as the two outstanding paintings by van Huysum at the Getty Center, it seemed to be of similar, high quality. The author of the entry for the painting in the 1972 catalogue of works in the Kimbell collection, identified this still life as "a superb example of this Dutch specialist's luxuriant flower pieces...."
I was therefore understandably surprised when this, one of he better paintings by the greatest of all painters of flowers, was consigned for sale to Sotheby's in the late 1990s. When I asked the Sotheby's specialist on old master paintings if he knew why it was being sold, I was told that a curator or director at the Kimbell wanted a spectacular van Huysum, such as the two at the Getty.
Well, about 25 years have passed, during which time at least a half-dozen spectacular flower pieces by the artist have gone through the auction houses or appeared as new acquisitions on museum walls (at the National Galleries of Scotland and Washington, D.C.), yet no painting by this important artist has made its way to Fort Worth. Who am I to second guess a curator, but I would have thought it better to have waited to deaccession until after a superior work was purchased than it was to go for at least a quarter of a century without having any example, not even an extremely nice one, hanging on a wall in Texas.