HANS BOLLONGIER (Haarlem c. 1600 – Haarlem 1672/1675)
A Still Life of Carnations, Roses and Cyclamen in a Glass Vase on a Stone Ledge with a Grasshopper
signed with monogram HB and dated Aº1640 in the lower center
oil on panel
17 ¾ x 12 ½ inches (45 x 32 cm.)
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, France
Anonymous sale, Ader, Picard & Tajan, June 17, 1980, lot 19, illustrated
Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam, 1980
Private Collection, Holland
Peter A. Tillou, London, by 1991
Private Collection, United States, 1994
Rafael Valls Limited, London, 2008
LITERATURE
Tableau, volume 3, no. 2, 1980, p. 424, in an advertisement for Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam
Frima Fox Hofrichter, “Hans Bollinger” in Haarlem: The Seventeenth Century, The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 1983, p. 62, no. 12, illustrated
Recent Acquisitions, Rafael Valls Limited, London, 2008, no. 2, illustrated
Sam Segal & Klara Alen, “Hans Bollongier” in Dutch and Flemish Flower Pieces, volume I, Brill, Leiden & Boston, 2020, p. 307, fn. 101
Hans Bollongier is believed to have been born in Haarlem around 1600. By 1623 he was a master painter in the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke. He always worked on panel and usually dated his paintings, known examples start in 1626 until 1672. He painted flowers, fruit and vanitas scenes. His floral compositions chiefly featured anemones, stock, tulips and carnations.[1]
“Bollongier’s work has a character all of its own”. By 1640 when this panel was executed, his oeuvre fell under the influence of the monochrome banquets painted by Pieter Claesz and Willem Heda, who were also working in Haarlem. His sand-colored imprimatura (the initial stain of color painted on a ground to provide a transparent base, which allowed light falling on to the paint to reflect through the paint layers) has a pinkish cast. His glass vases tend to be small in comparison to the large bouquets they hold. Often the foliage in the background is very dark. As here, the vase is shown on a stone table-top on which the sides are often visible. The period around 1640 is regarded as the highpoint of Bollongier’s career.[2]
Carnations were the traditional symbol of betrothal and conjugal fidelity. In a custom that dates back to the fifteenth century, perhaps best exemplified by Hans Holbein the Younger’s Portrait of the Merchant Georg Gisze from 1635 (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin), a young man is shown surrounded by the tools of his trade and a glass filled with carnations. Regarded as engagement flowers, it is thought that the portrait was intended as a gift to his betrothed.[3]
It is also very probable that Bollongier’s panel was commissioned as a betrothal gift. The dominance combined with the symbolism of the carnations intent would have been obvious to all in 1640. A cautious note is struck by the fallen sprig of yellow stock flowers meant as a reminder of the transience of life. Similarly the inclusion of the grasshopper alludes to an existence that should be guided by temperance.[4]
Dated flower pieces by Bollongier in museums include the National Museum, Stockholm; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Musée Denon, Chalon-sur-Saône; Museum Wasserburg Anholt, Isselburg-Anholt; Frans Hals Museum, Harlem; and the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo.[5]
[1] Sam Segal & Klara Alen, op.cit., p. 307.
[2] Ibid, p. 308.
[3] Rose-Marie & Rainer Hagen, What Great Paintings Say, volume 2, Taschen, Cologne, 2003, p. 153.
[4] Sam Segal, A Prosperous Past, The Sumptuous Still Life in The Netherlands, SDU Publishers, The Hague, 1988, p. 101.
[5] Sam Segal & Klara Alen, op.cit., p. 311.