Lot 2064 Dα

The painter Jacques Adolphsz. De Claeuw was one of the co-founders of the Dordrecht Guild of Saint Luke in 1642 and was admitted to the guild in The Hague in 1646. Later he also appears in Leiden and Haarlem. He left behind a stately œuvre of banquet, flower and vanitas still lifes. The latter are particularly characteristic of his work. In ever new compositions he gathered together all those pictorial motifs that are anchored in our subconscious as symbols of the transience, impermanence, fleetingness or futility of human existence: Human skulls, musical instruments, old books and almanacs or withering flowers, burning candles, crumpled letters. His sketchy and painterly style, which is also noticeable in this painting, lends many of his works a spontaneous, almost modern character. A written confirmation of authenticity by Fred Meijer from 2007 is available with this lot. The painting is registered with the RKD in The Hague under the number 61139 and is dated to around 1645.