Provenance:
Mme. Schoen-Chapon, Paris.
Edward Speelman, Ltd., London (as ‘Jan Breughel the Younger’).
Leggatt Brothers, London.
Private collection, France, acquired from the above in 1968.
Exhibited:
Amsterdam, Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Young Breughel, 1934 (as ‘Jan Breughel the Younger’).
According to Fred Meijer, ‘this composition is based on an early flower piece by Jan Brueghel the Elder, now in Frankfurt, that Ambrosius Bosschaert I must have known around 1607, since he borrowed several motifs from it (fig. 1). This painting is not by Bosschaert, however, but it (or a copy) probably remained in his possession, as this particular version may be by Balthasar van der Ast, as an early work from circa 1618. Van der Ast also borrowed motifs from Brueghel’s composition in some of his early works. It is certainly not by Jan Breughel II, as suggested information earlier. The ‘Pseudo-Bosschaert’, to whom Sam Segal attributed it, is an invention from Segal. The core group of that unidentified artist’s work shows similarities with both Bosschaert I and Brueghel I, but in my view, this painting is certainly not part of that group.’ (Private Communication, 2021).
