Adriaen Coorte (1665-after 1707), ‘Three Peaches on a Stone Ledge with a Painted Lady Butterfl
Adriaen Coorte (1665-after 1707), ‘Three Peaches on a Stone Ledge with a Painted Lady Butterfly’, 1695”Little known during his own lifetime, and virtually forgotten in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the still-lifes of Adriaen Coorte have nevertheless struck a vital chord with the modern mind. It was only in 1903 that a major museum – the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam – finally acquired a work by him, but since then he has become one of the most sought after of all Dutch still life painters of the 17th century. His sparse but supremely balanced arrangements of the humblest of natural subjects, delicately picked out in light against austere black backgrounds, speak to us in a way similar to the astonishing bodegones of the early Spanish painter Juan Sanchez Cotan. This tiny picture is one of his very finest works, and following its discovery in 2011 is without question one of the most beautiful recent additions to his known oeuvre.”…..”Coorte’s still life paintings are certainly highly distinctive. In his simple designs, natural objects sit upon stone ledges against a dark background. His subject matter is restricted to limited themes: asparagus, wild strawberries, fruit, including peaches, medlars, apricots, black and redcurrants, cherries, gooseberries and grapes, and lastly nuts and shells. Their combinations were very probably determined by their seasonal availability, and are occasionally accompanied (as here) by a delicate butterfly. Coorte painted peaches on several occasions, but this is one of only five paintings in which they appear alone.”Source -- source link
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