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Still Life with Carp
Pierre Nichon (French (Dijonnais), active in 1645–1655)
After: Sebastian Stoskopff (German, about 1596–1657)
After: Sebastian Stoskopff (German, about 1596–1657)
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
49.21 x 59.05 cm (19 3/8 x 23 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Francis Welch Fund
Accession Number63.1628
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Flopped in a bowl, this dead fish symbolizes Jesus Christ, but also shows all that death can be. Sacrificed for the sake of art and religious motif, here we see this carp’s death not meant for survival and food, but as a statement—as inspiration.
DescriptionAfter a painting in the Musée de Clamecy at Nevers
Signed
Lower left: P Nichon F
ProvenanceArt dealer, Dijon; by 1951, sold by the dealer to Jean Neger, Paris; sold by Neger to an unknown art dealer [see note 1]. Private collection, Paris [see note 2]. 1963, Heim Gallery, Paris; 1963, sold by Heim to the MFA for $5,000. (Accession Date: November 13, 1963)
NOTES:
[1] Neger, an art dealer, lent the painting to the exhibition "Natures Mortes Françaises du XVIIème Siècle à nos jours" (Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 1951), no. 129, according to a letter from Colette Ducluzeau, Galerie Charpentier (October 1, 1964). Ms. Ducluzeau indicated that Neger said he acquired the painting from a small dealer in Dijon and sold it to another dealer. In a letter to the MFA (July 26, 1964), Dirk Hannema said that he recalled seeing "two still lifes of the same subject with the art dealer Neger" in 1949, but he did not identify either one with the MFA composition. He also said he believed that the MFA painting was once in the R. Payelle collection, a suggestion which has been repeated in literature on the picture. However, the Payelle painting was sold November 23, 1972, Palais Galliera, Paris, lot 46, and therefore cannot be identical with the one at the MFA, acquired in 1963. See Pierre Rosenberg, "France in the Golden Age: A Postscript," Metropolitan Museum of Art Journal 17 (1982): p. 32, cat. no. 75.
[2] According to information provided by Heim at the time of the painting's acquisition.
NOTES:
[1] Neger, an art dealer, lent the painting to the exhibition "Natures Mortes Françaises du XVIIème Siècle à nos jours" (Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 1951), no. 129, according to a letter from Colette Ducluzeau, Galerie Charpentier (October 1, 1964). Ms. Ducluzeau indicated that Neger said he acquired the painting from a small dealer in Dijon and sold it to another dealer. In a letter to the MFA (July 26, 1964), Dirk Hannema said that he recalled seeing "two still lifes of the same subject with the art dealer Neger" in 1949, but he did not identify either one with the MFA composition. He also said he believed that the MFA painting was once in the R. Payelle collection, a suggestion which has been repeated in literature on the picture. However, the Payelle painting was sold November 23, 1972, Palais Galliera, Paris, lot 46, and therefore cannot be identical with the one at the MFA, acquired in 1963. See Pierre Rosenberg, "France in the Golden Age: A Postscript," Metropolitan Museum of Art Journal 17 (1982): p. 32, cat. no. 75.
[2] According to information provided by Heim at the time of the painting's acquisition.