untitled (still life)
artist: Jan Fyt (b.1611, d.1660); attributed to: Melchior d’Hondecoeter (b.1636, d.1695);
circa 1650
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Object Detail
Description
Still life depicting three wild cats leaping through an open window onto a table laden with bowls of berries, stands with fruit, knives, bread and a pie. The first cat has upset the bowl of berries and is defensively turned to the second. A third prepares to enter.]
Very similar painting in Prado, inventory number P001866, Paul de Vos, Cats Fighting in a Larder,1630-1640, oil on canvas. Prado record: 'With the owners or house servants away, the animals sneak into the larder, giving free rein to their instincts. This leads to a fight. Scenes of animal fights in domestic settings were customary in mid-seventeenth century Flemish painting. They were also frequent in the literature of proverbs, where they were interpreted as moral allusions to the abandonment of responsibilities and their consequences. Paul de Vos and his brother-in-law, Frans Snyders (1579-1657), making identical still lifes with animals and even repeating the compositional schemes and models, but with a more delicate touch and warmer shading. This type of scene was very successful among collectors of that time and was repeated on innumerable occasions. The [Prado} work is first listed in Queen Isabel Farnesio's collection in 1746.'
Very similar painting in Prado, inventory number P001866, Paul de Vos, Cats Fighting in a Larder,1630-1640, oil on canvas. Prado record: 'With the owners or house servants away, the animals sneak into the larder, giving free rein to their instincts. This leads to a fight. Scenes of animal fights in domestic settings were customary in mid-seventeenth century Flemish painting. They were also frequent in the literature of proverbs, where they were interpreted as moral allusions to the abandonment of responsibilities and their consequences. Paul de Vos and his brother-in-law, Frans Snyders (1579-1657), making identical still lifes with animals and even repeating the compositional schemes and models, but with a more delicate touch and warmer shading. This type of scene was very successful among collectors of that time and was repeated on innumerable occasions. The [Prado} work is first listed in Queen Isabel Farnesio's collection in 1746.'
Maker and role
artist: Jan Fyt (b.1611, d.1660)
attributed to: Melchior d’Hondecoeter (b.1636, d.1695)
attributed to: Melchior d’Hondecoeter (b.1636, d.1695)
Production place
Flanders, Belgium
The Netherlands
The Netherlands
Production date
circa 1650
Media description
oil on panel, recent frame
Measurements
720 x 970 mm
Credit line
Foundation Collection, 1989
Project credit line
This digital record has been made available on TJC Collection Online through a significant donation from the OPENING DOORS fund, the generous support of The Friends of The Johnston Collection, and Digitisation Champion Christine Bell
Accession number
A0972
TJC reference number
1223
