London’s Christie’s Branch to Auction Masterpieces from a Rothschild Collection

Jan van Huysum occupies a unique position within 18th-century Dutch painting. The provenance of the two works that the auction house will offer for sale on June 30th thus reads like a chronicle of Europe’s most prominent collectors. The canvas “Fruit and Flowers in a Wicker Basket” (1720s) was owned by the Duchess of Berry, one of the most influential patrons of the 19th century, while the painting “Flowers in a Terracotta Vase” (1734) passed through the collections of King William II of the Netherlands.  

In the second half of the 19th century, both works were purchased by Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild. He had identical gilded frames made for them, in which the paintings are still displayed today. As a pair, they later became part of the collection of the magnate John Enrico Fattorini. The estimated value of each canvas is around 3 million pounds.

Because of his obsessive pursuit of realism, van Huysum was nicknamed the “phoenix of flower painter” by his contemporaries. It is said that the painter was once able to delay a commission by a year simply because he was waiting for a specific variety of yellow rose to bloom, which he needed as a model. He jealously guarded his painting technique, particularly his work with glazes and the layering of colors, and did not allow anyone into his studio. 

“The bountiful beauty, technical brilliance and exceptional state of preservation of these masterpieces by Jan van Huysum make them among the most desirable works of their type in private hands,” states Andrew Fletcher, Christie’s global head of the old masters department. Prior to the auction in London, the paintings will also be exhibited in New York and Hong Kong.