Matthew Cook

The King Beetle - Still Life Oil Painting of Beetle, Matches, Floral Wallpaper

2019

A collection of objet d'art sit upon a gleaming table, their reflections enhanced by the light of the gilt background which is hand applied using 23K gold leaf. The objects - a toy sailboat...

Gorgeous hand applied 23K gold leaf warms the background of this still life. A collection of seashells are gathered in a silver basket and spill onto the rich, reflective table. This masterful painting by Helen Oh...

Depictions of dead birds have a long and rich history in Western Art having been used as a subject matter by artists from Albrecht Durer to Pablo Picasso. The Golden Age of Dutch Painting brought an iconic rise to still-life painting. Much like decadent, ripe fruit and extravagant, sumptuous floral arrangements, these taxadermied birds were transformed into stunning examinations of color, light and texture. Here, artist Tina Figarelli...

The simplicity of "Aqua Bailer Shell" is deceptive. The upturned pale yellow shell has a beautiful light emanating from its center revealing the delicacy of the shell. It sits upon a deep, rich brown table with its reflection seen in the highly polished surface. The background is delicate aqua colored moiré pattern to give an even more opulent feel while adding to the meditative quality of the painting. The bailer shell can be found in Southeast Asia, from Burma, Thailand and Malaysia, to the South China Sea and the Philippines. This large, prehistoric sea snail shell could traditionally be used by native fishermen to bail out their leaking fishing vessels. This artwork is framed in a simple walnut frame measuring 25 x 25 inches. Helen Oh...

The simplicity of "Bailer Shell" is deceptive. The upturned pale yellow shell sits upon a deep, rich brown table. The shell's reflection is seen in the highly polished surface. The background is delicate green moiré pattern to give an even more opulent feel while adding to the meditative quality of the painting. This artwork is unframed. Please contact the gallery for framing options. Helen Oh...

Tina Figarelli is a classically trained artist whose favorite subject matter in her artwork is ideas with a strong narrative. Tina leaves the viewer hin...

This painting is typical of the art of Jan Weenix, one of the best still life and hunting painters of the Dutch Golden Age. In a cleverly disordered manner, he depicts ten studies of dogs (mainly spaniels and greyhounds) and the sumptuous study of a stole. These studies were probably intended to be used as a source of inspiration and adapted in the painter's compositions, as we will see in a close examination of some of his paintings. 1. Jan Weenix, a prolific still life painter Jan Weenix was born into a family of artists: his father Jan Baptist Weenix (1621 - 1659) was also a landscape and still life painter and his mother Josyntgen d'Hondecoeter was the daughter of the animal painter Gillis d'Hondecoeter (1575 - 1638). His father trained him together with his cousin Melchior d'Hondecoeter (1636 - 1695). In 1664 Jan Weenix became a member of the St. Luke's Guild in Utrecht, to which he belonged until 1668. In 1679 he married Pieternella Backer with whom he had 13 children. His compositions, often related to hunting (still lifes, portraits of hunters) were very successful, ensuring him a certain financial ease. Jan Weenix also painted large-scale decorations: while staying in Düsseldorf with the Prince-Elector of the Palatinate between 1702 and 1712, he executed twelve gigantic compositions combining landscapes, hunting scenes and still life for the Bensberg hunting lodge. 2. Description of the artwork The painting displays a great apparent disorder that hides a rigorous organisation in four quarters. It presents ten studies of hunting dogs and one study of a stole. The studies of the stole and of two of the dogs (the greyhound in the lower right and the spaniel in the upper right quarter) are quite elaborate, whereas those of the other dogs are sketchier. As an example, the dog in the upper right corner is only partially painted. The dogs' coats, of different colours - brown, sandy, grey or black - stand out against the warm brown background and are illuminated by the shine of their white hair. This white colour, probably executed with ceruse white, illuminates the study of a stole which stands out in the lower left-hand corner while the red colour of its lining warms up the composition. The purpose of this stole is enigmatic: we think it is probably a neckband, but it could also be the back of the turban of an oriental character. To the right of this stole is the outline of a long animal leg, perhaps a horse leg. Similar studies are rare in the work of Jan Weenix, but the Rijksmuseum recently acquired the study of a seated monkey. This study, executed in the same brown chromatic range, is much more accomplished. It has been reused with minimal change in many compositions. It is likely that Jan Weenix had less frequently a monkey at his disposal, and that he therefore depicted it in great details, whereas he could probably easily find dogs as models. Note the characteristic white dot in the corner of each pupil that brings them to life! 3. Related artworks We have tried to relate the various dogs in this study to the countless dogs that appear in the paintings of Jan Weenix, as listed in the catalogue 'Father and Son - Weenix' compiled by Anke van Wagenberg- Ter Hoeven in 2018. A first example is the painting entitled "The Prodigal Son on the Steps of a Palace" (catalogue number 7 - 8th photo in the gallery). In the lower left-hand corner of the composition, a spaniel is barking at a peacock perched on a stone. This spaniel, which is depicted in a similar manner in the "Portrait of a Young Man with a Falcon" in the Bremen Kunsthalle (catalogue number 76), is reminiscent of the spaniel in the upper left-hand quarter of our study (although the latter is slenderer and the direction of its head differs). We also find, in a slightly different pose, the seated greyhound that is at the top of our painting in the composition representing "A Swan, a Stag, a Hare and Birds presented by two hunting Valets" (catalogue number 130 - last photo in the gallery). The sketch of this greyhound in our study is unfinished: the painter only painted the grey undercoat and the white parts of the coat, without completing the sandy coat which appears in the final painting. We can see from these various examples that our study was probably more a repertoire of forms than a model for a specific composition. The painter probably used it for inspiration before adapting each dog study...

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