LUDGER TOM RING LE JEUNE (Münster, 1522 - Brünswick,... Lot n° 27

Still life of a basket of flowers Oak panel, one board 25,7 x 33,5 cm Certificate Issued by Dr. Fred Meijer, Amsterdam on October 23, 2019 Provenance Private collection, Paris Dr. Fred Meijer, the world's leading expert on the artist considers our painting to be the earliest individual still life of flowers in a basket. Literal translation of Dr. Fred Meijer's certificate: "After studying your still life of a basket of flowers (oil on panel, 25,7 x 33,5 cm), in person on September 9, I studied it on the basis of photographs. I also consulted further the archives of the late Sam Segal at the Netherlands Institute for Art History in The Hague (RKD). The Hague (RKD). In 2003 Segal studied intensively Ludger tom RING the Younger (1522-1584) and concluded that your painting can be attributed to this artist, a conclusion with which I agree. In 1562, L. Tom RING painted a large kitchen interior which was part of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum collection in Berlin, but unfortunately disappeared during the Second World War (fig. 1). This painting contains a basket of flowers in front of the lady on the right, which looks very much like the basket in your painting (fig. 2). But the perspective is somewhat different, it is painted from a higher point of view. .../... In a nature study album in the Österreichische National Bibliothek in Vienna, some oil studies on paper by Ludger Tom The album belonged to Emperor Rodolph II (1552-1612) in Prague. This group includes a study of a basket of flowers that corresponds perfectly to the composition of your panel (fig. 3). Although somewhat different in execution, your panel version can be considered a work by Ludger tom RING himself, made from the study on paper. Several still lifes by Tom Ring, dating from the years 1562 to 1565, are preserved in the Mauritschuis in The Hague (fig. 4), in a private collection (fig. 5) and in the Münster Museum (fig. 6). These are very similar in atmosphere to your painting and the treatment of many of the flowers and in particular the green flowers such as the boxwood and the pink leaves in front of and to the right of the light-edged basket. The way the basket is partly outlined with a dark border is similar to the way the vases were depicted in the panel of the Mauritschuis in The Hague (fig. 4) and in the one in the private collection (fig. 5). Your painting, however, is less well preserved than the examples of the figures (Figs.4-6), with the result that the flowers have lost some of their subtlety. Your painting, as a work by Ludger Tom Ring himself, belongs to the first group of still lifes depicting only flowers. The artist can be considered one of the pioneers of the subject, long before artists such as Jan Brueghel or Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder began to popularize the genre. As such, and apart from the version on paper in Vienna (fig. 3), this painting must be considered the earliest individual still life of flowers in a basket." Fred Meijer, Art Historian Amsterdam, 23 October 2019