Still-Life of Flowers

Private collection

still-life

The painting shows a still-life of tulips, carnations, a rose and other flowers in a glass beaker resting on a wooden ledge. In his flower pieces, Hulsdonck favours a mixture of a restricted number of blooms with tulips predominating. Most of them are set against a dark background, and he favoured simple clear glass beakers with prunts in the lower register only, so that the stems of each flower can be followed through to the base.

About the Artist

Jacob van Hulsdonck

1582 – 1647

Flemish painter. Although born in Antwerp, Jacob van Hulsdonck was raised in Middleburg, the southwestern Dutch town where Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder and his circle worked. He first studied painting in Middelburg and for forty years in Antwerp Hulsdonck remained loyal to Bosschaert's subjects and meticulous style, though in this comparatively late composition Snyders 's sense of rhythm and convincing sense of space appear to have influenced him. He returned to his birthplace at the age of twenty-seven and established his own studio that specialized in still-life paintings, normally fruit pieces composed of perfect, brightly coloured plums, grapes, and peaches on ordinary tabletops as their primary subject. He may have worked in Osias Beert 's circle before becoming a Master in the Guild of St Luke in Antwerp in 1608. His paintings were admired for their beauty, delight in textures, and delicately drawn shapes.

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