STAVEREN, JAN ADRIAENSZ VAN
Leyden 1625 - 1668


Title: Lizard on a Rock Ledge.
Date: 1648.
Technique: Oil on wood.
Measurement: 30.5 x 22.5cm.
Notation: Signed and dated lower centre: "JA (lig.) Staveren / Ao 1648".
Frame: Framed.
Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

Advising on and marketing collections of art objects has always been one of our house's missions. In the 'Fine Art' department, too, connections have often been cultivated over decades. When a collection comes to be liquidated, we are delighted to be trusted to carefully bring the meticulously and passionately assembled works back onto the market.
The three paintings presented here are part of such a collection, which focusses on still lifes and landscapes from the 17th century.

The Dutch painter Simon Luttichuys (cat. 1214) has visualised the most diverse surfaces and textures with the greatest artistry in a breathtakingly tangible way. The gold lidded goblet and the embossed silver plate, two different glasses filled with wine and a faience bowl compete for space on a table. The materiality of the tablecloth and the green drapery impress the viewer just as much as the feel of the peaches, lemon and bread. There is much more to discover in this painting, which is a real feast for the eyes.

The trompe-l'oeil painting with falconry utensils, which the painter Johannes Leemans produced in 1677 (catalogue 1213), is quite different, almost coolly objective. The objects are neatly lined up next to each other on nails, in front of a grey wall, on coloured ribbons. Various objects hang in the centre, crowned by a birdcage in which a live songbird sits. It is the decoy bird, whose song is supposed to attract its fellow species. Its fate is not species-appropriate, but it is spared from the hunter's arrowheads. The Dutch artist Johannes Leemans specialised in this type of deceptively three-dimensional still life and achieved great popularity.

The third, smallest of the paintings presented here perhaps belongs less to the still life category than to landscape painting (catalogue 1212). The small lizard on the rock, painted by Jan Adriaensz van Staveren, remains still, but is presented to the viewer in a lively state. It looks out from its lookout into a landscape, which is only hinted at on the right-hand edge of the picture. The gnarled, almost dead tree that rises above the reptile and the cloud-filled sky give the picture a primeval appearance that goes beyond the zoological interest in the lizard. The artist Jan Adriansz van Staveren, presumably a pupil of Gerrit Dous, was an interesting personality: He was a councillor in Leiden for several years and was elected mayor there in 1667.