Jan van Huysum

Netherlandish (1682 - 1749)

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Jan van Huysum *Flower Still Life with Bird's Nest* About 1718

Biography

Born 1682

Died 1749

Nationality Netherlandish

Birth place Amsterdam

Death place Amsterdam

Jan van Huysum was born in Amsterdam and trained with his father Justus, a flower painter. After his father died in 1716, he was soon recognised as the most important painter of flower still-lifes of his time. Starting with dark backgrounds, he introduced more light in his paintings in the 1710s, eventually moving on to light backgrounds with landscape elements which were highly successful. His compositions are often flamboyant but the flowers are depicted in perfect detail. He had wealthy clients around Europe and died a rich man in his native city.

Van Huysum is known for his detailed still-lifes, consisting of luxuriously composed flowers in a classical syle vase, standing on a stone plinth or table, often in a niche. Early works such as Flower Still-life (1706; Hamburg, Kunsthalle), show a traditional, symmetrical pictorial composition. This and other early flower and fruit still-lifes reveal the influence of Cornelis de Heem and Abraham Mignon. The later flower pictures show no apparent symmetry in their arrangement, with almost late Baroque or Rococo compositions. The flower-pieces from van Huysum’s most productive period are presented almost exclusively in an S-shaped arrangement, the only other compositional form being the diagonal—both typical forms of the Rococo. Van Huysum was most famous, however, for the extreme realism of his fruit and flowers, showing extraordinary accuracy of such details as the veins of individual petals, the filaments of the calyxes, dew drops and insects. He often painted tulips, roses, and the crown imperial, a large red flower that came to symbolize the death of Christ.

ID: 500001494

Information from Getty’s Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License

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