Flowers, Fruits, Insects and a Squirrel by Jan Baptist Van Fornenburgh (1585 – 1650) ?

Period: 17th century, circa 1620

Oil on oak panel (three planks), not cradled

Signed with the monogram lower right: IB. F

Presented in an ebony veneer frame with wide moulding.

Overall dimensions: 82 × 104 cm. The panel alone: 60 × 81 cm

The intensification of agriculture since the beginning of the 16th century was accompanied by the promotion of botanical sciences, whose discoveries penetrated literature, which also contained advice on improving fruit cultivation.
Painters did not merely show vegetables piled in baskets, but also bowls literally overflowing with a profusion of fruits of every kind.
As today, large fruits with rich, juicy pulp, obtained through grafting and special cultivation, were already appreciated at that time.
There were also freshly picked fruits such as grapes, apples, and quinces, as well as flowers, not to mention the rare and famous tulips.

This very fine still life is characteristic of the opulent compositions so fashionable in Flanders in the 17th century, carefully though simply arranged, and often archaic in their superimposed structure.
The painter masterfully employs a rich and creamy substance, delicate glazes, as well as a brilliant palette of luminous tones, always well harmonized. Indeed, the interplay of subtle nuances — such as the vermilion red of the lobster, the golden yellow of the lemon, and the violet of the curtain falling across the stone entablature — perfectly illustrates this discreet and refined chromatic balance.

The background is sober, a zenithal light illuminates the entire composition and grazes part of the stone wall.
Added to this are a squirrel and a wagtail, as well as insects such as flies, ants, a butterfly (a Red Admiral); two lobsters, raw and cooked; and finally a lizard (rather unusual on a table).

Our exceptionally well-preserved painting perfectly illustrates the still lifes of Jan Baptist Van Fornenburgh.

Born in Antwerp in 1585, Jan Baptist van Fornenburgh died in The Hague in 1650. He became a member of the Guild of Painters of The Hague in 1629, although he had already been active for some twenty years. About twenty paintings are today attributed to him with certainty.
According to the RKD, he signed his works with the monogram “IBVF” or “IBF”, sometimes simply “IB”.
The career of this painter of flowers and fruits, who clearly observed with attention the works of Balthasar van der Ast and Ambrosius Bosschaert — like them often populating his compositions with lizards or small insects — still remains to be fully uncovered and documented…

Very fine condition.