Lot 1533 D α

Although it is not signed, the traditional attribution of this opulent still life of flowers, grasshoppers, snails and lizards to Elias van den Broeck is accepted without question. Characteristic for this artist, who according to Houbraken was born in Antwerp and active in Amsterdam, is the particularly detailed depiction of the noticeably large, textured leaves. His usual repertoire is here enriched with various insects and small reptiles. In 1685, Van den Boeck moved to a house in the Amstel outside of Utrecht, and there tended a garden in which he grew the plants painted in his works.