Three Bouquets of Flowers
1st Half of 17th Century, oil, canvas, 113 x 164 cm
NG S 3043, National Gallery of Slovenia, Ljubljana
The composition is divided into two unequal parts. On the left a metal(?) vase with a bouquet stands on a stone at the top of some steps. It is decorated with stylised leaves. On a large table at the right covered with a tablecloth there are a basket and a spherical glass vase on a small pedestal. Both contain various flowers, while insects and birds – dragonflies, butterflies, goldfinches – fly around.
The painting, which due to its state of preservation is much changed, has an unusual, unbalanced and asymmetrical composition. The type of bouquets, the shapes of the flowers, the presence of insects and birds, all suggest that this still life follows Italian models from the first quarter of the 17th century. However, all the indications are that the painting is not Italian, but Spanish, although it is difficult to mention any particular name. In many ways – but on a very summary level – it is reminiscent of the still lifes of Juan van der Hamen y Léon (Madrid 1596 – Madrid 1631), but its Italian sources cannot be concealed. A painting which appears to be by the same hand, Still Life with Two Vases of Flowers and a Melon, 150 x 70 cm, was on sale as Spanish school of the 17th century at an auction in the Dorotheum in Vienna on 19–20 October 1993, No. 6. Even closer to our painting are two examples of Still Life with Vases of Flowers, 118 x 174 cm, both of which were once offered for sale by the antiques dealer Francesco Romano in Rome.
Preservation: The priming is reddish bolus. In some places the paint has been badly scraped off and the colour has considerably darkened. In some parts the tones have changed.
Restored: 1987, Kemal Selmanović. New canvas lining, new stretcher and new protective varnish.
Provenance: The engineer Viljem Killer purchased the painting around 1937 from an antiquarian in Zagreb; his widow, Mrs. Dita Killer lent it for exhibition from 1989 to 1995; purchased by the Narodna galerija on 11 Aug. 1995; the purchase was funded by a donation from the American-Slovene company Amway Slovenija on 6 Nov. 1995.
Exhibition: 1989, Ljubljana, No. 2.
Lit.: Zeri and Rozman 1989, p. 110, Cat. and Fig. No. 2.