Jan Weenix 'Attr.' Painting, Still-Life with Dog

About the Item

Jan Weenix (Attr.) 1640/41 - 1719 Still life with dog Oil on canvas, cm. 103 × 99 The scene takes place in a courtyard surrounded by a wall. A brown hound seems to be checking the result of the recently concluded hunt, carefully observing the paw of a hare hanging on the painted wall next to two lifeless birds. Above the dog's head develops a green bush with two beautifully flowering reddish gerberas with frayed petals. On the other side of the wall there is a wooded landscape immersed in an evening sky. Partially restored painting, slight retouching. The painting is attributed to Jan Weenix. Son of the painter Jan Battista Weenix (1621-1660/61) he was born in Amsterdam in 1640/41. At the age of five, he moved with his family to Utrecht. From 1657 he became a pupil of his father in the studio set up in the large family home outside the city, learning the Italian way to paint genre scenes. Unlike his father, however, he never visited Italy. He fully joined the Utrecht painters guild before moving to his hometown in 1670 where he married. This is the period during which Weenix abandoned the painting of Italian scenes in favor of more extravagant genres through which his father had already enjoyed some success. Jan Weenix's paintings were quite sought after by the bourgeois of Amsterdam and his reputation attracted the attention of the German Elector of Dusseldorf, John William of the Palatinate, who commissioned him numerous game scenes and still lifes. He was considered one of the best Dutch painters of still life with animals of his time. He devoted himself to painting particularly detailed still lifes with flowers, animals and lifeless game, landscapes and portraits. This type of work, for which he is mainly known, was often life-sized and in addition to dead game, there was sometimes a live dog. Later, he began to insert various hunting trophies in the rosy brightness of twilight in his paintings of game. Sometimes he immersed the scenes in a park enriched with classical or pseudo-classical sculptures, ancient urns and in the background the view of a sumptuous house or the enclosure wall of the latter. For the above, it is believed that the painting dates back to the first period that the artist dedicated to still lifes with a dog. The scene is set at nightfall, there is a wooded landscape in the background but there is no trace of trophies or classical architecture that will appear in subsequent paintings. The hare hanging on the hook upside down with the stream of blood coming out of the mouth is a characteristic feature of many scenes created by the artist who seems to study the poor animal in all of his poses. There are similarities with Jan Weenix's painting “Partridges, songbirds, a duck, a gun and a quailwistle in a parkland landscape (1695) presented by the Dorotheum auction house in Vienna on 09/06/2020 - lot 87, estimated between 50,0000 and 70,000 euros. Note the similarity, both in the colors used and in the ways of handling the brush, with the birds painted in the lower left corner and with the larger bird with white and brown plumage. The petals of the red gerbera sometimes refer, in both cases, to small feathers supported by the light air. *Please keep in mind that this work has already obtained the certificate of free export from Italy from the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage. This document certifies that the work is not part of the Italian cultural heritage. All costs of this operation are included.

Attributed to:

Jan Weenix (Artist)

Dimensions:

Height: 40.56 in (103 cm)Width: 38.98 in (99 cm)Depth: 1.97 in (5 cm)

Materials and Techniques:

Canvas,Oiled

Place of Origin:

Netherlands

Period:

Late 17th Century

Date of Manufacture:

circa 1680

Condition:

Rewoven. Minor fading. Condition report: Painted in very good general condition. Some small touches completely compatible with the era of the work. Relined painting with new frame. Non coeval frame.

Seller Location:

Spinea, IT

Reference Number:

Seller: Weenix1stDibs: LU6770228678882