Jan Davidsz. de Heem
(Utrecht 1606–1684 Antwerp)
A Still Life of Luxuries
mid-1660s
signed lower centre, on the sheet of music: J.D. de Heem
oil on canvas
139.2 x 115.1 cm (54¾ x 45¼ in.)
‘[P]rofuse naturalistic detail loaded these works with a visual excess meant to appeal to spectators informed by new methods of natural inquiry, keenly attuned to technical craftsmanship, and inclined to the thrall of visualizing economic affluence. As a representational mode, the naturalism manifested in pronkstilleven was itself a luxury commodity invested with a social capital that exceeded even the value of the painter’s skill, materials, and labour.’
Miya Tokumitsu, ‘The Currencies of Naturalism in Dutch Pronk Still-Life Painting: Luxury, Craft, Envisioned Affluence’, in Canadian Art Review 41, no. 2 (2016), p. 30
Hover to zoom to maximum level or click to enlarge
Artwork details
The gloriously rendered lute, expertly peeled lemon and dazzling interplay of textures and surfaces immediately captivate the viewer in this large-scale still life by Jan Davidsz. de Heem. On a table draped with a richly embroidered green velvet and a white cloth, the artist has assembled an extravagant display of food and luxury objects. Among an abundance of fruit, nuts, seafood and bread are a bekerschroef (glass stand) holding a Rhenish rummer placed on a blue bottle casket, an ornate columbine cup, a dance master’s violin, known as a pochette, a nautilus shell, and a seven-course lute, whose ribbed back is reflected in the polished surface of a lobed silver platter. The lute partially conceals a recorder and sheet of music and rests beside writing implements, while in the right foreground an orange occupies a prominent position on a red velvet cushion. This lavish arrangement is set against a low wall and a broken column overgrown with vines, inhabited by birds, insects and a snail, while a heavy silk curtain parts to reveal a view of the sky beyond.
Such displays are known as pronkstillevens, or ostentatious still lifes. Here, De Heem demonstrates his technical virtuosity on a grand scale, rendering an extraordinary range of materials with utmost precision. Although entirely contrived, the composition is animated by subtle traces of human presence: the lemon pips strewn on the pewter plate suggest the seafood has been duly seasoned; the lute lying face down appears to have been set aside by its player moments before; and De Heem’s own signature on the tablature seems scarcely dry, the quill pen still resting in the inkpot. The costly objects depicted closely resemble those owned by De Heem’s wealthy patrons, and their meticulous rendering undoubtedly heightened the pleasure of looking.
Painted in Utrecht during the later years of De Heem’s career, the Klesch still life demonstrates the smooth, highly polished technique he perfected after leaving Antwerp, while retaining the ambition and elegance of the monumental works he painted in the early 1640s. The latter, which adopt a grand landscape format, include masterpieces now at the Louvre, Paris, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The abundance of objects and symbols in this painting has inspired a variety of interpretations. The transitory nature of certain elements has led some to read such luxury still lifes as allegories of the passage of time, or the choice between good and evil, with compositional elements given moralising and religious interpretations. Others have seen an underlying message of moderation, a view De Heem himself espoused elsewhere through inscriptions advocating quality over quantity. Here, the prominently placed lute, often associated with worldly pleasures, may serve as a memento mori, reminding viewers of the fleeting nature of earthly delights. The orange in the foreground has been interpreted as the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. More plausibly, here, it alludes to the young Prince William of Orange, later William III (1650–1702). Painted on the eve of his appointment as stadtholder in 1672, the work may reflect the Orangist sympathies prevalent among Utrecht’s Protestant elite.
The painting’s more recent history charts a remarkable journey across Europe. Its last rightful pre-war owner was Jacob Lierens (1877–1949), a Jewish businessman and art collector from Amsterdam, who was forced to sell the painting at auction in 1941 amid Nazi persecution. He and his wife were subsequently interned at Westerbork transit camp. Acquired in October 1941 by Hans Posse for Adolf Hitler’s planned Führermuseum in Linz, the painting was recovered after the war by the ‘Monuments Men’, and returned to the Netherlands, where it was placed in state custody. It was not until 2019 that Still Life of Luxuries was restituted to Lierens’ heirs, after nearly 70 years on long-term loan at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht and after featuring in numerous international exhibitions in Spain, Sweden, Austria and elsewhere. The work was acquired at auction by The Klesch Collection in 2021.
Possibly Clemens August of Bavaria (1700–1761), Archbishop Elector of Cologne, Bishop of Paderborn, Hildesheim and Osnabrück, before at least 1761;
His sale (†), Bonn, 22 May 1764 (8th day), lot 67 (as ‘Un grand Tableau à Fruits de quatre pieds six pouces de hauteur & trois pieds neuf pouces de largeur, peint par Jean de Heen’), for 54.30 Reichsthaler, to
Simon Mordechai Baruch (1716–1802), Bad Mergentheim and Bonn;
Anonymous sale (‘Catalogue d’un recueil d’un grand seigneur de plusieurs superbes tableaux’), Christian Benjamin Rauschner, Frankfurt, 1765, lot 250 (as ‘Hoch 4 S[chuh] 6 Zoll, breit 3 Schu 9 Zoll, auf Tuch gemahlt. Ein Stück mit Früchten/ H. 4 piés 6 pouc. larg. 4 piés 9 pouc. peint sur de la toile. C’est un tableau avec des fruits’);
Charles Searle Hayne (1833–1903);
His sale (†), Christie’s, London, 16 April 1904, lot 105, for 600 guineas, to Schaeffer;
Henri James Simon (1851–1932), Berlin, by 1906;
Anonymous sale (Property from the estates and collections of Mrs U.M. Kneppelhout-Van Braam, Oosterbeek; Egbert de Langen, Amsterdam; and Count Bottaro Costa, The Hague), Frederik Muller & Cie., Amsterdam, 16 December 1919, lot 29, repr., for 8,500 guilders;
Anonymous sale, Frederik Muller & Cie., Amsterdam, 12 April 1921, lot 4a, acquired by Jonas Alexander van Bever, Amsterdam, on behalf of
Jacob Lierens (1877–1949);
His sale, Frederik Muller & Cie., Amsterdam, 14 October 1941 (1st day), lot 311, for 34,000 guilders;
Acquired for the Sonderauftrag Linz via Hans Posse, 22 October 1941, for 37,700 fl. or 30,000 Reichsmark (Linz No. 2044);
Recovered by the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section, transferred to the Munich Central Collecting Point (MCCP no. 4973), 19 July 1945;
Whence transferred to Amsterdam, 8 July 1946;
Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit, The Netherlands, 1946, inv. no. 1010, and placed under the custody of
Dienst voor ’s Rijks verspreide kunstvoorwerpen, Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, The Hague/ Amsterdam, inv. no. NK 2711;
On long-term loan to the Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 1948–2019, inv. no. 10231;
Restituted to the heirs of Jacob Lierens, 2019;
By whom sold (‘Property of the Heirs of Jacob Lierens’), Christie’s, London, 8 July 2021, lot 21;
The Klesch Collection.
Berlin, Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Ausstellung von Werken alter Kunst aus dem Privatbesitz der Mitglieder des Kaiser Friedrich-Museums-Vereins, 27 January – 4 March 1906, no. 57 (lent by James Simon);
Delft, Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof, Wintertentoonstelling: Van intimiteit tot theater, 22 December 1951 – 31 January 1952, no. 30;
Utrecht, Jaarbeurs, Musement, 19 June – 13 July 1969;
Leiden, Museum De Lakenhal and Groningen, Groninger Museum, ‘Een stuckie stilleggend goet’. Nederlandse stillevens uit de zeventiende eeuw van de Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst te Den Haag, 16 November 1985 – 5 January 1986;
Delft, Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof; Cambridge, Mass., Fogg Art Museum; and Fort Worth, Texas, Kimbell Art Museum, A Prosperous Past: The Sumptuous Still Life in the Netherlands 1600–1700, 1 July – 4 September; 1 October – 27 November 1988; and 10 December 1988 – 12 February 1989, no. 38;
Utrecht, Centraal Museum and Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Jan Davidsz de Heem en zijn kring, 16 February – 14 April and 9 May – 7 July 1991, no. 8;
Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (exhibited in Madrid only), La pintura holandesa del siglo de oro: la escuela de Utrecht, October 1992 – February 1993, no. 33;
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts and Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, The Age of Rubens, 22 September 1993 – 24 April 1994, no. 112;
Sasebo, Nagasaki, Masters of Utrecht: 17th–19th-century Paintings from the Collection of Centraal Museum Utrecht, 20 May 1994 – 15 February 1995, no. 20;
Utrecht, Centraal Museum, De keuze van Simon Levie. Oude meesters in de collectie van het Centraal Museum, 17 June 1995 – 10 September 1995;
Stockholm, Nationalmuseum and Helsinki, Sinebrychoffin Taidemuseo, Törnrosmadonnan och andra mästerverk från Utrecht, 7 February – 11 May and 4 June – 17 August 1997, no. 15;
Santiago, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and São Paulo, Pinacoteca do Estado, Maestros holandeses del siglo de oro/ Mestres do Século de Ouro na pintura Holandesa. Dutch Masters of the Golden Age, 6 November 1997 – 4 January 1998 and 13 March – 26 April 1998, no. 22;
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum and Essen, Gemeinnütziger Verein Villa Hügel, Das flämische Stilleben 1550–1680, 18 March – 21 July and 1 September – 8 December 2002, no. 90;
Luxembourg, Villa Vauban, Musée d’art de la ville de Luxembourg, Les cinq sens dans la peinture/ Die fünf Sinne in der Malerei/ The Five Senses in Painting, 19 March – 26 June 2016, no. 12;
Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, long-term loan, 23 February 2022 – 4 February 2024;
Antwerp, Snijders&Rockoxhuis, Verbeelde Weelde/ Opulence Distilled. The Still Lifes of Jan Davidsz. de Heem, 27 April 2024 – 1 October 2024, no. 28.
Ausstellung von Werken alter Kunst aus dem Privatbesitz der Mitglieder des Kaiser Friedrich-Museums-Verein, exh. cat., Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin, 1906, p. 19, no. 57.
‘Veilingnieuws’, Maandblad voor Beeldende Kunsten, 18, no. 11, 1941, p. 300;
Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit, Catalogus van de schilderijen, benevens een overzicht van de beeldhouwkunst en de kunstnijverheid, The Hague 1946, p. 19 (with inaccurate literature and provenance);
R. van Luttervelt, Kunst van Nederland: Schilders van het Stilleven, Naarden 1947, pp. 22–23, 46 and 50, fig. 23;
Wintertentoonstelling: Van intimiteit tot theater, exh. cat., Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof, Delft 1951, p. 29, no. 30 (with inaccurate literature);
C.H. de Jonge, Centraal Museum Utrecht: Catalogus der schilderijen, Utrecht 1952, pp. XXXIX n. 2 and 56–57, no. 137 (with inaccurate provenance);
K.-H. Hering, Silberschmiedegefässe auf niederländischen Stilleben des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts, PhD diss., Freie Universität Berlin, 1955, pp. 43–44 and 100, fig. 8;
E. Greindl, Les peintres flamands de nature morte au XVIIe siècle, Brussels 1956, pp. 103, 171 and 174 (listed as two different paintings);
F.A. van Braam, Art Treasures in the Benelux Countries, vol. I, The Netherlands, Deventer 1958, p. 205, no. 2326 (with inaccurate provenance);
A.P. de Mirimonde, ‘Joris et Jan van Son dans les Musées de province’, La Revue des Arts, X, 1960, p. 11 n. 17;
P. Gammelbo, ‘La natura morta Olandese nel seicento’, Antichità Viva, 6, July–August 1963, p. 27, fig. 7;
J. Foucart, Musées de Hollande: la peinture néerlandaise, Paris 1965, section 33, repr.;
G. Bott, ‘Stilleben des 17. Jahrhunderts: Jacob Marrell’, in Kunst in Hessen und am Mittelrhein, vol. VI, Darmstadt 1966, p. 110, under no. 26;
M.E. Houtzager, M. Meier-Siem, H. Stark and H.J. de Smedt, Röntgenonderzoek van de oude schilderijen in het Centraal Museum te Utrecht, Utrecht 1967, pp. 238–39, no. 137;
A.P. de Mirimonde, ‘Musique et symbolisme chez Jan-Davidszoon de Heem, Cornelis-Janszoon et Jan II Janszoon de Heem’, in Jaarboek van het Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, Antwerp 1970, pp. 281–82, repr. p. 280, fig. 38 (confusing this painting and its copy);
L. Grisebach, Willem Kalf 1619–1693, Berlin 1974, p. 125 n. 285;
R.D. Leppert, The Theme of Music in Flemish Paintings of the Seventeenth Century, vol. II, Munich and Salzburg 1977, p. 64, no. 270;
F.W. Robinson in Catalogue of The Flemish and Dutch Paintings 1400–1900, Sarasota, FL, F.W. Robinson, W.H. Wilson and L. Silver (eds), Sarasota 1980, under no. 84;
C. Wright, Paintings in Dutch museums: An index of oil paintings in the public collections in the Netherlands by artists born before 1870, Amsterdam 1980, p. 165;
E. Greindl, Les peintres flamands de nature morte au XVIIe siècle, Sterrebeek 1983 (2nd ed.), pp. 124, 249, fig. 130, 360, no. 26 and 362, no. 131 (listed as two different paintings);
O. ter Kuile, Seventeenth-century North Netherlandish Still Lifes, Catalogue of Paintings by Artists Born before 1870, vol. VI, The Hague 1985, pp. 50–51, 116–17, no. VI–27 and 206, repr. pp. 50, fig. 33, 117 and 204 (detail of signature);
‘Een stuckie stilleggend goet’: Nederlandse stillevens uit de zeventiende eeuw van de Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst te Den Haag, Lakenhal, Leiden 1985, repr., n.p.;
F.G. Meijer, ‘Book review: O. ter Kuile, Seventeenth-century North Netherlandish Still Lifes’, Oud Holland, 100, no. 3/4, 1986, pp. 204 and 205;
J. de Meyere, ‘Der Geschmack der Bürger. Zur niederländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts’, in I. Ember (ed.), Niederländische Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts aus Budapest, exh. cat., Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne and Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 1987, p. 41, fig. 8;
S. Segal, A Prosperous Past: The Sumptuous Still Life in The Netherlands 1600–1700, exh. cat., Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof, Delft, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass., and Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Cambridge 1988, pp. 143, 148–49, 241, no. 38, repr. (as probably painted before or in 1645);
H. Robels, Frans Snyders: Stilleben- und Tiermaler 1579–1657, Munich 1989, p. 164 n. 398;
P. Huys Janssen, Schilders in Utrecht 1600–1700, Historische Reeks Utrecht, vol. XV, Utrecht 1990, pp. 82 and 83, fig. 72;
F.G. Meijer, ‘Book review: A Prosperous Past: The Sumptuous Still Life in the Netherlands 1600–1700’, Simiolus, 20, no. 1, 1990–91, p. 96;
S. Segal in Jan Davidsz De Heem en zijn kring, exh. cat., Centraal Museum, Utrecht and Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Brunswick 1991, pp. 18, 38, 131, under no. 4, 139–41, no. 8 (German ed., no. 7A), repr. p. 77 and addendum p. 2, under no. 34A;
I. Schwartz, “Niet hoe veel maer hoe eel”: Symboliek en signaturen van Jan Davidszoon de Heem’, Vitrine, no. 1, 1991, pp. 13–15, repr.;
de Heer, F. Kuyvenhoven and E. Mijnlieff, Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst: Old master paintings: an illustrated summary catalogue, The Hague 1992, p. 134, no. 1085, repr.;
J. Ingamells, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Pictures, vol. IV, Dutch and Flemish, London 1992, p. 140, under no. PI75;
R. Trnek, Die holländischen Gemälde des 17. Jahrhunderts in der Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien, Vienna 1992, p. 176 n. 17;
G.J.M. Weber, ‘Ausstellungen. Stilleben im goldenen Jahrhundert—Jan Davidsz de Heem und sein Kreis’, Kunstchronik, 45, no. 4, April 1992, pp. 149 and 161;
J. de Meyere and J.J. Luna in La pintura holandesa del siglo de oro: la escuela de Utrecht, exh. cat., Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona, 1992, pp. 52, 162–63, no. 33, repr.;
M.E. Wieseman in The Age of Rubens, P.C. Sutton and M.E. Wieseman (eds), exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1993, pp. 541–43, no. 112, repr.;
A.T. Woollett in The Age of Rubens, P.C. Sutton and M.E. Wieseman (eds), exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1993, p. 545, under no. 113;
J. de Meyere in Masters of Utrecht: 17th–19th-century Paintings from the Collection of Centraal Museum Utrecht, exh. cat., Sasebo, Nagasaki 1994, pp. 84–85, no. 20, repr.;
M.-L. Hairs, ‘Jan Davidsz. de Heem’, in Ph. Roberts-Jones (ed.), Le dictionnaire des peintres belges du XIVe siècle à nos jours, Brussels 1995, p. 284, repr.;
P. Taylor, Dutch Flower Painting 1600–1720, New Haven and London 1995, pp. 95, 213 n. 55, pl. 56;
S. Segal, ‘Heem, de. Dutch family of painters’, in J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, vol. XIV, London 1996, pp. 288–89, repr. fig. 1;
L.M. Helmus in Törnrosmadonnan och andra mästerverk från Utrecht, L.M. Helmus (ed.), exh. cat., Nationalmuseum, Stockholm and Sinebrychoff Art Museum, Helsinki 1997, pp. 65–68 and 141, no. 15, repr. (as c. 1665–70);
L.M. Helmus, Madonna met wilde rozen en een selectie van 16de- en 17de-eeuwse meesterwerken uit Utrecht, Ghent 1997, pp. 65–68 and 141, repr.;
L.M. Helmus, Maestros holandeses del siglo de oro. Dutch Masters of the Golden Age, exh. cat., Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago 1997, pp. 9, 31–33, 46, no. 22, repr.;
L.M. Helmus, Mestres do Século de Ouro na pintura Holandesa. Dutch Masters of the Golden Age, exh. cat., Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo 1998, pp. 9, 31–33, 46, no. 22, repr.;
L.M. Helmus, De verzamelingen van het Centraal Museum Utrecht, vol. V, Schilderkunst tot 1850, Utrecht 1999, part A, pp. 301–3, no. 260, repr.; part B, pp. 929–30;
K. Sidén, ‘Musik och musikinstrument i 1600-talets stillebenmåleri’, in K. Sidén (ed.), Musiken i konsten. Det klingande 1600-talet. Nationalmusei Årsbok, vol. XLVII, Stockholm 2001, pp. 140–41, fig. 2;
K. Schütz in Das flämische Stillleben 1550–1680, C. Nitze-Ertz, U. Kleinmann and S. Brakensiek (eds), exh. cat., Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna and Kulturstiftung Ruhr Essen, Essen 2002, p. 30, no. 90;
S. Brakensiek in Das flämische Stillleben 1550–1680, C. Nitze-Ertz, U. Kleinmann and S. Brakensiek (eds), exh. cat., Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna and Kulturstiftung Ruhr Essen, Essen 2002, pp. 268, no. 90, repr. pp. 246, 269 and 366;
M. Díaz Padrón et al., Triumph of the sea: the riches of marine life in XVII-century European painting, Madrid 2003, pp. 152 and 153 nn. 16 and 17;
F.G. Meijer, The Collection of Dutch and Flemish Still-Life Paintings Bequeathed by Daisy Linda Ward. The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Catalogue of the Collection of Paintings, Zwolle 2003, under no. 58, pp. 253–54 n. 5, fig. 58.3;
J. de Meyere, Utrechtse schilderkunst in de Gouden Eeuw. Honderd schilderijen uit de collectie van het Centraal Museum te Utrecht, Utrecht 2006, pp. 213–15, no. 49, repr.;
F.G. Meijer, ‘Jan Davidsz. de Heem’s landscapes’, in C. Dumas, J. Kosten, E.J. Sluijter, N.C. Sluijter-Seijffert (eds), Liber Amicorum Marijke de Kinkelder: Collegiale bijdragen over landschappen, marines en architectuur, The Hague 2013, pp. 258, 263 Appendix y, 268 image detail y and 270 n. 42;
A. Glesius and G.D. Grawe (eds), Les cinq sens dans la peinture/ Die fünf Sinne in der Malerei/ The Five Senses in Painting, exh. cat., Villa Vauban, Luxembourg 2016, pp. 44–47, no. 12, repr.;
F.G. Meijer, Jan Davidsz. de Heem 1606–1684, PhD diss., University of Amsterdam, 2016, vol. I, pp. 161, 216–17, 219–20, 226, 228–29, 231–33, 245, 274, 280, 375, 410 n. 330, no. A 199, repr.; vol. II, pp. 222–24, no. A 199;
J. Giltaij, Het grote Gouden Eeuw boek: de Hollandse schilderkunst, Zwolle 2017, pp. 92, 103, fig. 17;
F.G. Meijer, Jan Davidsz. de Heem 1606–1684, Zwolle 2024, vol. I, pp. 302, 318–20, 323, 326, 338, 344, 346–47, 376, 442, 451, 495 n. 356, no. 204, fig. 366; vol. II, pp. 522, 626–28, 698, no. 204, repr.;
F.G. Meijer, Verbeelde Weelde/ Opulence Distilled. The Still Lifes of Jan Davidsz. de Heem, exh. cat., Snijders&Rockoxhuis, Antwerp 2024, pp. 73, 154–55, no. 28, repr.;
E. Spaans, ‘Fonkelende glazen en sappige perziken’, Museumtijdschrift, no. 3, April–May 2024, p. 62, repr.;
E. Mijnlieff, ‘Jan Davidsz. de Heem. Het stillleventheater’, Collect, no. 534, May 2024, p. 30, repr.;
J. Giltaij, The great Golden Age book: Dutch painting, (3rd ed.), Zwolle 2024, pp. 94 and 98, repr. p. 99, fig. 17.
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Hover to zoom to maximum level or click to enlarge
Jan Davidsz. de Heem
(Utrecht 1606–1684 Antwerp)
A Still Life of Luxuries
mid-1660s
signed lower centre, on the sheet of music: J.D. de Heem
oil on canvas
139.2 x 115.1 cm (54¾ x 45¼ in.)
‘[P]rofuse naturalistic detail loaded these works with a visual excess meant to appeal to spectators informed by new methods of natural inquiry, keenly attuned to technical craftsmanship, and inclined to the thrall of visualizing economic affluence. As a representational mode, the naturalism manifested in pronkstilleven was itself a luxury commodity invested with a social capital that exceeded even the value of the painter’s skill, materials, and labour.’
Miya Tokumitsu, ‘The Currencies of Naturalism in Dutch Pronk Still-Life Painting: Luxury, Craft, Envisioned Affluence’, in Canadian Art Review 41, no. 2 (2016), p. 30
Artwork details
The gloriously rendered lute, expertly peeled lemon and dazzling interplay of textures and surfaces immediately captivate the viewer in this large-scale still life by Jan Davidsz. de Heem. On a table draped with a richly embroidered green velvet and a white cloth, the artist has assembled an extravagant display of food and luxury objects. Among an abundance of fruit, nuts, seafood and bread are a bekerschroef (glass stand) holding a Rhenish rummer placed on a blue bottle casket, an ornate columbine cup, a dance master’s violin, known as a pochette, a nautilus shell, and a seven-course lute, whose ribbed back is reflected in the polished surface of a lobed silver platter. The lute partially conceals a recorder and sheet of music and rests beside writing implements, while in the right foreground an orange occupies a prominent position on a red velvet cushion. This lavish arrangement is set against a low wall and a broken column overgrown with vines, inhabited by birds, insects and a snail, while a heavy silk curtain parts to reveal a view of the sky beyond.
Such displays are known as pronkstillevens, or ostentatious still lifes. Here, De Heem demonstrates his technical virtuosity on a grand scale, rendering an extraordinary range of materials with utmost precision. Although entirely contrived, the composition is animated by subtle traces of human presence: the lemon pips strewn on the pewter plate suggest the seafood has been duly seasoned; the lute lying face down appears to have been set aside by its player moments before; and De Heem’s own signature on the tablature seems scarcely dry, the quill pen still resting in the inkpot. The costly objects depicted closely resemble those owned by De Heem’s wealthy patrons, and their meticulous rendering undoubtedly heightened the pleasure of looking.
Painted in Utrecht during the later years of De Heem’s career, the Klesch still life demonstrates the smooth, highly polished technique he perfected after leaving Antwerp, while retaining the ambition and elegance of the monumental works he painted in the early 1640s. The latter, which adopt a grand landscape format, include masterpieces now at the Louvre, Paris, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The abundance of objects and symbols in this painting has inspired a variety of interpretations. The transitory nature of certain elements has led some to read such luxury still lifes as allegories of the passage of time, or the choice between good and evil, with compositional elements given moralising and religious interpretations. Others have seen an underlying message of moderation, a view De Heem himself espoused elsewhere through inscriptions advocating quality over quantity. Here, the prominently placed lute, often associated with worldly pleasures, may serve as a memento mori, reminding viewers of the fleeting nature of earthly delights. The orange in the foreground has been interpreted as the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. More plausibly, here, it alludes to the young Prince William of Orange, later William III (1650–1702). Painted on the eve of his appointment as stadtholder in 1672, the work may reflect the Orangist sympathies prevalent among Utrecht’s Protestant elite.
The painting’s more recent history charts a remarkable journey across Europe. Its last rightful pre-war owner was Jacob Lierens (1877–1949), a Jewish businessman and art collector from Amsterdam, who was forced to sell the painting at auction in 1941 amid Nazi persecution. He and his wife were subsequently interned at Westerbork transit camp. Acquired in October 1941 by Hans Posse for Adolf Hitler’s planned Führermuseum in Linz, the painting was recovered after the war by the ‘Monuments Men’, and returned to the Netherlands, where it was placed in state custody. It was not until 2019 that Still Life of Luxuries was restituted to Lierens’ heirs, after nearly 70 years on long-term loan at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht and after featuring in numerous international exhibitions in Spain, Sweden, Austria and elsewhere. The work was acquired at auction by The Klesch Collection in 2021.
Possibly Clemens August of Bavaria (1700–1761), Archbishop Elector of Cologne, Bishop of Paderborn, Hildesheim and Osnabrück, before at least 1761;
His sale (†), Bonn, 22 May 1764 (8th day), lot 67 (as ‘Un grand Tableau à Fruits de quatre pieds six pouces de hauteur & trois pieds neuf pouces de largeur, peint par Jean de Heen’), for 54.30 Reichsthaler, to
Simon Mordechai Baruch (1716–1802), Bad Mergentheim and Bonn;
Anonymous sale (‘Catalogue d’un recueil d’un grand seigneur de plusieurs superbes tableaux’), Christian Benjamin Rauschner, Frankfurt, 1765, lot 250 (as ‘Hoch 4 S[chuh] 6 Zoll, breit 3 Schu 9 Zoll, auf Tuch gemahlt. Ein Stück mit Früchten/ H. 4 piés 6 pouc. larg. 4 piés 9 pouc. peint sur de la toile. C’est un tableau avec des fruits’);
Charles Searle Hayne (1833–1903);
His sale (†), Christie’s, London, 16 April 1904, lot 105, for 600 guineas, to Schaeffer;
Henri James Simon (1851–1932), Berlin, by 1906;
Anonymous sale (Property from the estates and collections of Mrs U.M. Kneppelhout-Van Braam, Oosterbeek; Egbert de Langen, Amsterdam; and Count Bottaro Costa, The Hague), Frederik Muller & Cie., Amsterdam, 16 December 1919, lot 29, repr., for 8,500 guilders;
Anonymous sale, Frederik Muller & Cie., Amsterdam, 12 April 1921, lot 4a, acquired by Jonas Alexander van Bever, Amsterdam, on behalf of
Jacob Lierens (1877–1949);
His sale, Frederik Muller & Cie., Amsterdam, 14 October 1941 (1st day), lot 311, for 34,000 guilders;
Acquired for the Sonderauftrag Linz via Hans Posse, 22 October 1941, for 37,700 fl. or 30,000 Reichsmark (Linz No. 2044);
Recovered by the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section, transferred to the Munich Central Collecting Point (MCCP no. 4973), 19 July 1945;
Whence transferred to Amsterdam, 8 July 1946;
Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit, The Netherlands, 1946, inv. no. 1010, and placed under the custody of
Dienst voor ’s Rijks verspreide kunstvoorwerpen, Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, The Hague/ Amsterdam, inv. no. NK 2711;
On long-term loan to the Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 1948–2019, inv. no. 10231;
Restituted to the heirs of Jacob Lierens, 2019;
By whom sold (‘Property of the Heirs of Jacob Lierens’), Christie’s, London, 8 July 2021, lot 21;
The Klesch Collection.
Berlin, Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Ausstellung von Werken alter Kunst aus dem Privatbesitz der Mitglieder des Kaiser Friedrich-Museums-Vereins, 27 January – 4 March 1906, no. 57 (lent by James Simon);
Delft, Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof, Wintertentoonstelling: Van intimiteit tot theater, 22 December 1951 – 31 January 1952, no. 30;
Utrecht, Jaarbeurs, Musement, 19 June – 13 July 1969;
Leiden, Museum De Lakenhal and Groningen, Groninger Museum, ‘Een stuckie stilleggend goet’. Nederlandse stillevens uit de zeventiende eeuw van de Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst te Den Haag, 16 November 1985 – 5 January 1986;
Delft, Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof; Cambridge, Mass., Fogg Art Museum; and Fort Worth, Texas, Kimbell Art Museum, A Prosperous Past: The Sumptuous Still Life in the Netherlands 1600–1700, 1 July – 4 September; 1 October – 27 November 1988; and 10 December 1988 – 12 February 1989, no. 38;
Utrecht, Centraal Museum and Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Jan Davidsz de Heem en zijn kring, 16 February – 14 April and 9 May – 7 July 1991, no. 8;
Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (exhibited in Madrid only), La pintura holandesa del siglo de oro: la escuela de Utrecht, October 1992 – February 1993, no. 33;
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts and Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, The Age of Rubens, 22 September 1993 – 24 April 1994, no. 112;
Sasebo, Nagasaki, Masters of Utrecht: 17th–19th-century Paintings from the Collection of Centraal Museum Utrecht, 20 May 1994 – 15 February 1995, no. 20;
Utrecht, Centraal Museum, De keuze van Simon Levie. Oude meesters in de collectie van het Centraal Museum, 17 June 1995 – 10 September 1995;
Stockholm, Nationalmuseum and Helsinki, Sinebrychoffin Taidemuseo, Törnrosmadonnan och andra mästerverk från Utrecht, 7 February – 11 May and 4 June – 17 August 1997, no. 15;
Santiago, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and São Paulo, Pinacoteca do Estado, Maestros holandeses del siglo de oro/ Mestres do Século de Ouro na pintura Holandesa. Dutch Masters of the Golden Age, 6 November 1997 – 4 January 1998 and 13 March – 26 April 1998, no. 22;
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum and Essen, Gemeinnütziger Verein Villa Hügel, Das flämische Stilleben 1550–1680, 18 March – 21 July and 1 September – 8 December 2002, no. 90;
Luxembourg, Villa Vauban, Musée d’art de la ville de Luxembourg, Les cinq sens dans la peinture/ Die fünf Sinne in der Malerei/ The Five Senses in Painting, 19 March – 26 June 2016, no. 12;
Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, long-term loan, 23 February 2022 – 4 February 2024;
Antwerp, Snijders&Rockoxhuis, Verbeelde Weelde/ Opulence Distilled. The Still Lifes of Jan Davidsz. de Heem, 27 April 2024 – 1 October 2024, no. 28.
Ausstellung von Werken alter Kunst aus dem Privatbesitz der Mitglieder des Kaiser Friedrich-Museums-Verein, exh. cat., Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin, 1906, p. 19, no. 57.
‘Veilingnieuws’, Maandblad voor Beeldende Kunsten, 18, no. 11, 1941, p. 300;
Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit, Catalogus van de schilderijen, benevens een overzicht van de beeldhouwkunst en de kunstnijverheid, The Hague 1946, p. 19 (with inaccurate literature and provenance);
R. van Luttervelt, Kunst van Nederland: Schilders van het Stilleven, Naarden 1947, pp. 22–23, 46 and 50, fig. 23;
Wintertentoonstelling: Van intimiteit tot theater, exh. cat., Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof, Delft 1951, p. 29, no. 30 (with inaccurate literature);
C.H. de Jonge, Centraal Museum Utrecht: Catalogus der schilderijen, Utrecht 1952, pp. XXXIX n. 2 and 56–57, no. 137 (with inaccurate provenance);
K.-H. Hering, Silberschmiedegefässe auf niederländischen Stilleben des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts, PhD diss., Freie Universität Berlin, 1955, pp. 43–44 and 100, fig. 8;
E. Greindl, Les peintres flamands de nature morte au XVIIe siècle, Brussels 1956, pp. 103, 171 and 174 (listed as two different paintings);
F.A. van Braam, Art Treasures in the Benelux Countries, vol. I, The Netherlands, Deventer 1958, p. 205, no. 2326 (with inaccurate provenance);
A.P. de Mirimonde, ‘Joris et Jan van Son dans les Musées de province’, La Revue des Arts, X, 1960, p. 11 n. 17;
P. Gammelbo, ‘La natura morta Olandese nel seicento’, Antichità Viva, 6, July–August 1963, p. 27, fig. 7;
J. Foucart, Musées de Hollande: la peinture néerlandaise, Paris 1965, section 33, repr.;
G. Bott, ‘Stilleben des 17. Jahrhunderts: Jacob Marrell’, in Kunst in Hessen und am Mittelrhein, vol. VI, Darmstadt 1966, p. 110, under no. 26;
M.E. Houtzager, M. Meier-Siem, H. Stark and H.J. de Smedt, Röntgenonderzoek van de oude schilderijen in het Centraal Museum te Utrecht, Utrecht 1967, pp. 238–39, no. 137;
A.P. de Mirimonde, ‘Musique et symbolisme chez Jan-Davidszoon de Heem, Cornelis-Janszoon et Jan II Janszoon de Heem’, in Jaarboek van het Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, Antwerp 1970, pp. 281–82, repr. p. 280, fig. 38 (confusing this painting and its copy);
L. Grisebach, Willem Kalf 1619–1693, Berlin 1974, p. 125 n. 285;
R.D. Leppert, The Theme of Music in Flemish Paintings of the Seventeenth Century, vol. II, Munich and Salzburg 1977, p. 64, no. 270;
F.W. Robinson in Catalogue of The Flemish and Dutch Paintings 1400–1900, Sarasota, FL, F.W. Robinson, W.H. Wilson and L. Silver (eds), Sarasota 1980, under no. 84;
C. Wright, Paintings in Dutch museums: An index of oil paintings in the public collections in the Netherlands by artists born before 1870, Amsterdam 1980, p. 165;
E. Greindl, Les peintres flamands de nature morte au XVIIe siècle, Sterrebeek 1983 (2nd ed.), pp. 124, 249, fig. 130, 360, no. 26 and 362, no. 131 (listed as two different paintings);
O. ter Kuile, Seventeenth-century North Netherlandish Still Lifes, Catalogue of Paintings by Artists Born before 1870, vol. VI, The Hague 1985, pp. 50–51, 116–17, no. VI–27 and 206, repr. pp. 50, fig. 33, 117 and 204 (detail of signature);
‘Een stuckie stilleggend goet’: Nederlandse stillevens uit de zeventiende eeuw van de Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst te Den Haag, Lakenhal, Leiden 1985, repr., n.p.;
F.G. Meijer, ‘Book review: O. ter Kuile, Seventeenth-century North Netherlandish Still Lifes’, Oud Holland, 100, no. 3/4, 1986, pp. 204 and 205;
J. de Meyere, ‘Der Geschmack der Bürger. Zur niederländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts’, in I. Ember (ed.), Niederländische Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts aus Budapest, exh. cat., Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne and Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 1987, p. 41, fig. 8;
S. Segal, A Prosperous Past: The Sumptuous Still Life in The Netherlands 1600–1700, exh. cat., Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof, Delft, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass., and Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Cambridge 1988, pp. 143, 148–49, 241, no. 38, repr. (as probably painted before or in 1645);
H. Robels, Frans Snyders: Stilleben- und Tiermaler 1579–1657, Munich 1989, p. 164 n. 398;
P. Huys Janssen, Schilders in Utrecht 1600–1700, Historische Reeks Utrecht, vol. XV, Utrecht 1990, pp. 82 and 83, fig. 72;
F.G. Meijer, ‘Book review: A Prosperous Past: The Sumptuous Still Life in the Netherlands 1600–1700’, Simiolus, 20, no. 1, 1990–91, p. 96;
S. Segal in Jan Davidsz De Heem en zijn kring, exh. cat., Centraal Museum, Utrecht and Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Brunswick 1991, pp. 18, 38, 131, under no. 4, 139–41, no. 8 (German ed., no. 7A), repr. p. 77 and addendum p. 2, under no. 34A;
I. Schwartz, “Niet hoe veel maer hoe eel”: Symboliek en signaturen van Jan Davidszoon de Heem’, Vitrine, no. 1, 1991, pp. 13–15, repr.;
de Heer, F. Kuyvenhoven and E. Mijnlieff, Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst: Old master paintings: an illustrated summary catalogue, The Hague 1992, p. 134, no. 1085, repr.;
J. Ingamells, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Pictures, vol. IV, Dutch and Flemish, London 1992, p. 140, under no. PI75;
R. Trnek, Die holländischen Gemälde des 17. Jahrhunderts in der Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien, Vienna 1992, p. 176 n. 17;
G.J.M. Weber, ‘Ausstellungen. Stilleben im goldenen Jahrhundert—Jan Davidsz de Heem und sein Kreis’, Kunstchronik, 45, no. 4, April 1992, pp. 149 and 161;
J. de Meyere and J.J. Luna in La pintura holandesa del siglo de oro: la escuela de Utrecht, exh. cat., Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona, 1992, pp. 52, 162–63, no. 33, repr.;
M.E. Wieseman in The Age of Rubens, P.C. Sutton and M.E. Wieseman (eds), exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1993, pp. 541–43, no. 112, repr.;
A.T. Woollett in The Age of Rubens, P.C. Sutton and M.E. Wieseman (eds), exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1993, p. 545, under no. 113;
J. de Meyere in Masters of Utrecht: 17th–19th-century Paintings from the Collection of Centraal Museum Utrecht, exh. cat., Sasebo, Nagasaki 1994, pp. 84–85, no. 20, repr.;
M.-L. Hairs, ‘Jan Davidsz. de Heem’, in Ph. Roberts-Jones (ed.), Le dictionnaire des peintres belges du XIVe siècle à nos jours, Brussels 1995, p. 284, repr.;
P. Taylor, Dutch Flower Painting 1600–1720, New Haven and London 1995, pp. 95, 213 n. 55, pl. 56;
S. Segal, ‘Heem, de. Dutch family of painters’, in J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, vol. XIV, London 1996, pp. 288–89, repr. fig. 1;
L.M. Helmus in Törnrosmadonnan och andra mästerverk från Utrecht, L.M. Helmus (ed.), exh. cat., Nationalmuseum, Stockholm and Sinebrychoff Art Museum, Helsinki 1997, pp. 65–68 and 141, no. 15, repr. (as c. 1665–70);
L.M. Helmus, Madonna met wilde rozen en een selectie van 16de- en 17de-eeuwse meesterwerken uit Utrecht, Ghent 1997, pp. 65–68 and 141, repr.;
L.M. Helmus, Maestros holandeses del siglo de oro. Dutch Masters of the Golden Age, exh. cat., Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago 1997, pp. 9, 31–33, 46, no. 22, repr.;
L.M. Helmus, Mestres do Século de Ouro na pintura Holandesa. Dutch Masters of the Golden Age, exh. cat., Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo 1998, pp. 9, 31–33, 46, no. 22, repr.;
L.M. Helmus, De verzamelingen van het Centraal Museum Utrecht, vol. V, Schilderkunst tot 1850, Utrecht 1999, part A, pp. 301–3, no. 260, repr.; part B, pp. 929–30;
K. Sidén, ‘Musik och musikinstrument i 1600-talets stillebenmåleri’, in K. Sidén (ed.), Musiken i konsten. Det klingande 1600-talet. Nationalmusei Årsbok, vol. XLVII, Stockholm 2001, pp. 140–41, fig. 2;
K. Schütz in Das flämische Stillleben 1550–1680, C. Nitze-Ertz, U. Kleinmann and S. Brakensiek (eds), exh. cat., Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna and Kulturstiftung Ruhr Essen, Essen 2002, p. 30, no. 90;
S. Brakensiek in Das flämische Stillleben 1550–1680, C. Nitze-Ertz, U. Kleinmann and S. Brakensiek (eds), exh. cat., Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna and Kulturstiftung Ruhr Essen, Essen 2002, pp. 268, no. 90, repr. pp. 246, 269 and 366;
M. Díaz Padrón et al., Triumph of the sea: the riches of marine life in XVII-century European painting, Madrid 2003, pp. 152 and 153 nn. 16 and 17;
F.G. Meijer, The Collection of Dutch and Flemish Still-Life Paintings Bequeathed by Daisy Linda Ward. The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Catalogue of the Collection of Paintings, Zwolle 2003, under no. 58, pp. 253–54 n. 5, fig. 58.3;
J. de Meyere, Utrechtse schilderkunst in de Gouden Eeuw. Honderd schilderijen uit de collectie van het Centraal Museum te Utrecht, Utrecht 2006, pp. 213–15, no. 49, repr.;
F.G. Meijer, ‘Jan Davidsz. de Heem’s landscapes’, in C. Dumas, J. Kosten, E.J. Sluijter, N.C. Sluijter-Seijffert (eds), Liber Amicorum Marijke de Kinkelder: Collegiale bijdragen over landschappen, marines en architectuur, The Hague 2013, pp. 258, 263 Appendix y, 268 image detail y and 270 n. 42;
A. Glesius and G.D. Grawe (eds), Les cinq sens dans la peinture/ Die fünf Sinne in der Malerei/ The Five Senses in Painting, exh. cat., Villa Vauban, Luxembourg 2016, pp. 44–47, no. 12, repr.;
F.G. Meijer, Jan Davidsz. de Heem 1606–1684, PhD diss., University of Amsterdam, 2016, vol. I, pp. 161, 216–17, 219–20, 226, 228–29, 231–33, 245, 274, 280, 375, 410 n. 330, no. A 199, repr.; vol. II, pp. 222–24, no. A 199;
J. Giltaij, Het grote Gouden Eeuw boek: de Hollandse schilderkunst, Zwolle 2017, pp. 92, 103, fig. 17;
F.G. Meijer, Jan Davidsz. de Heem 1606–1684, Zwolle 2024, vol. I, pp. 302, 318–20, 323, 326, 338, 344, 346–47, 376, 442, 451, 495 n. 356, no. 204, fig. 366; vol. II, pp. 522, 626–28, 698, no. 204, repr.;
F.G. Meijer, Verbeelde Weelde/ Opulence Distilled. The Still Lifes of Jan Davidsz. de Heem, exh. cat., Snijders&Rockoxhuis, Antwerp 2024, pp. 73, 154–55, no. 28, repr.;
E. Spaans, ‘Fonkelende glazen en sappige perziken’, Museumtijdschrift, no. 3, April–May 2024, p. 62, repr.;
E. Mijnlieff, ‘Jan Davidsz. de Heem. Het stillleventheater’, Collect, no. 534, May 2024, p. 30, repr.;
J. Giltaij, The great Golden Age book: Dutch painting, (3rd ed.), Zwolle 2024, pp. 94 and 98, repr. p. 99, fig. 17.
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