Still life of flowers - Jan Frans van Dael (1764-1840)

Still life of flowers
Jan Frans van Dael (1764-1840)

Oil painting on canvas
Period: late 18th - early 19th century
Golden frame
Measurements: canvas 63 x 77 frame 76 x 90
Excellent conditions

This magnificent floral composition, painted with incredible stylistic perfection and great knowledge of botanical species, is to be combined with the incomparable production of still lifes by the Flemish master Jan Frans van Dael
The exceptional variety of flowers that fill the vase in a triumph of colors are impeccably arranged with perfect color combinations and perfect description of all the species depicted.
The painting is of great commitment for the Author, who in addition to describing an innumerable variety of multicolored corollas and buds, does it with great finesse and precision.
As is the tradition for van Dael's Still Lifes, also in this case the exuberance of the composition is accompanied by an evident stylistic elegance that characterizes his works in detail and as a whole.

Jan Frans van Dael or Jean-François van Dael (May 27, 1764 – March 20, 1840) was a Flemish painter who specialized in still lifes of flowers and fruit. He had a successful career in Paris, where his patrons included the empresses of the French Empire and the kings of the French Restoration. His work stands in the Flemish and Dutch tradition of floral painting with a sober composition and attention to detail to which he adds a French-inspired decorative monumentality.

Jan Frans van Dael was born in Antwerp, the son of a carpenter and studied architectural drawing at the Antwerp Academy. He won the first prizes of the Academy of Architecture in 1784 and 1785.

He traveled to Paris in 1786 where he resided in the artists' quarters at the Louvre, close to Joseph Sauvage, Gerard van Spaendonck and Pierre-Joseph Redouté. From 1806 to 1813 he worked as a state-protected artist in a studio at the Sorbonne.

Initially he was active as a decorator with jobs at the castles of St. Cloud, Bellevue and Chantilly. He became self-taught in painting and under the influence of van Spaendonck he turned to flower painting.

He regularly exhibits his paintings at the Paris Salon between 1793 and 1833, as well as at the Salons of the Netherlands. Evidence of his success are the numerous commissions he received from the Empresses Josephine (who owned five of his works) and Maria Luisa Bonaparte, as well as from the French Restoration kings Louis XVIII and Charles X. Van Dael was a member of the Academies of Antwerp and Amsterdam.

He has spent his entire active career in France. He died in Paris in 1840 and was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery next to his friend and master van Spaendonck.

Van Dael made his flower arrangements with an exceptional variety of species, which he is believed to have studied from life. Van Dael's flowers were based on botanical studies and, according to a contemporary botanist, van Hulthem, he grew flowers in his garden to directly copy them. Van Dael applied a perfectly smooth layer of plaster to his canvases, which allowed him to recreate an effect similar to 17th century panels. His still lifes were distinguished by the use of a lighter palette of green, pink, blue and yellow.

The vase of flowers presented here offers a remarkable example of the excellent characteristics of his painting and the excellent state of conservation allows us to grasp the exuberant corollary of botanical varieties in all the smallest details. We also note the presence of a butterfly, which is a typical quirk of the artist, often depicted in homage to the great Flemish interpreters of the golden age.

A state-of-the-art re-draping was carried out without any minimum intervention on the pictorial layer.