PIETER JANSSENS ELINGA (Broges 1623 – Amsterdam before 1682)
A Still Life of Shells, A Pewter Dish with Lobster, Roll, Roemer, Fruit and Knife on a Stone Table Covered by a Draped Cloth
oil on oak panel
15 ½ x 22 ¼ inches (39.3 x 56.5 cm)
PROVENANCE
Kurt Benedict, Berlin, circa 1928 (as by Abraham Hendricksz van Beyeren)
N.V. Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam (as by Abraham Hendricksz van Beyeren)
from whom purchased by
Private collection, Amsterdam, circa 1935
Looted by the Nazi authorities after May, 1940 who sent it to the looting bank of
Lippman, Rosenthal & Co., who sold it to
Dr. Kajetan Mühlmann, February 24, 1942
In the custody of the Dutch Government after World War II
Restituted to the heirs of the Private Collection, Amsterdam, 1950’s and
then by descent to
Private collection, New York until the present time
LITERATURE
N.R.A. Vroom, A Modest Message, Schiedam, 1980, vol. I, pp. 135, 137, no. 195, fig. 178, vol. II, p. 44, no. 195, fig. 178, (as by Evert Collyer, present whereabouts unknown)
Pieter Janssens Elinga possibly received his initial training from his father Gisbrecht. By 1653 he is recorded as working in Rotterdam, but that same year he moved to Amsterdam. He is again recorded in the rolls there in 1657 and 1662 as both a painter and musician. As well as still lifes the artist painted interior scenes in the style of Pieter de Hooch.[1]
Elinga’s still lifes have often been misattributed to those of Willem Kalf. Elinga painted still lifes such as this one which reflect the influence of the artist, probably after moving to Amsterdam in the same year as Kalf in 1653. Our painting, and a very similar one in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. No. A562), share a similar atmosphere of quiet restraint that derives from Kalf. Both works feature a few objects placed on a wooden table partially covered with dark green drapery, a gleaming pewter plate and a roemer filled with white wine. Other still lifes by Elinga are in the Ferens Art Gallery, Hull and the Museum Bredius in The Hague.[2]
The painting was identified as a work by Pieter Janssens Elinga by Dr. Sam Segal and confirmed in a photo certificate dated January 12, 1991 after viewing the original.
[1] Adriaan van der Willigen, Fred G. Meijer, “Pieter Janssens Elinga” in A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-Life Painters Working in Oils, 1525-1725, Primavera Press, Leiden, 2003, p. 118.
[2] Erika Gemar-Koeltzsch, “Pieter Janssens Elinga” in Holländische Stillebenmaler im 17. Jahrhundert, Luca Verlag Lingen, 1995, vol. 2, p. 537; Fred G. Meijer, “Pieter Janssens Elinga” in The Collection of Dutch and Flemish Still-Life Painting, Bequeathed by Daisy Linda Ward, The Ashmolean Museum Oxford, Waanders Publishers, Zwolle, 2003, pp. 224-225.