Trompe-l'Oeil Still Life with a Flower Garland and a Curtain

Description

Adrien van der Spelt’s splendid garland displays about 20 floral varieties—including a tulip, a 16th-century import from Persia that would eventually become an icon of Dutch culture. The deceptively realistic blue curtain, painted by Frans van Mieris, refers to the historical strategy for protecting paintings but also to the tale of Parhassius, a skilled Greek artist who fooled his rival into attempting to pull back a curtain painted onto one of his pictures. Examples of collaborative works by Dutch artists from this period are rare, perhaps due to the intense competition created by the region’s thriving art market.

Provenance

Henric Bugge van Ring (died 1669), Leyden, by 1667 [his inventory of that year, “een stuk met bloemen van der Spelt en een gordijntgen daer bij staende van Mieris” (A piece with flowers by van der Spelt and a little curtain with it by Mieris)]. John Webb, London; sold, Phillips, London, July 8–9, 1828, lot 70 as van der Spelt. George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland (d. 1833), Stafford House, London [described by Passavant 1833]; by descent to George Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, Stafford House, London (d. 1861) to at least 1854 [described by Waagen 1837 and 1854]. Vitale Bloch, Paris, by 1949; sold to Art Institute of Chicago, 1949.