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Flowers in a Terracotta Vase
Jan van Huysum (Dutch, 1682–1749)
1730
Medium/Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
80 × 61 cm (31 1/2 × 24 in.)
Credit Line
Promised gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art
Accession NumberL-R 13.2019
OUT ON LOAN
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
InscriptionsSigned lower right: Jan van Huysum fecit
ProvenanceJ. van den Ende, Amsterdam; 1776, sold by J. van den Ende to John Hope (b. 1737 - d. 1784) and Adrian Hope (b. 1709 – d. 1781) (joint ownership), Amsterdam [see note 1]; 1784, by inheritance, through John Hope’s widow, Philippa Barbara van der Haven (d. 1790), and cousin, Henry Hope, to his sons, Thomas Hope (b. 1769 – d. 1831), Adrian Elias Hope (b. 1772 – d. 1834), and Henry Philip Hope (b. 1774 - d. 1839), Amsterdam and London; by about 1802-1811, ownership passed fully to Henry Phillip Hope [see note 2]; by descent to his nephew, Henry Thomas Hope (b. 1808 - d. 1862), London and Deepdene House, Surrey; possibly by descent, through his widow, to Henry Francis Pelham-Clinton-Hope (b. 1866 - d. 1941), London and Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire, [see note 3]. Carl Meyer (b. 1851 - d. 1922), London [see note 4]; by descent to his widow, Adele Meyer (b. 1855 – d. 1930), Chipstead Place, Kent, and London; May 30, 1930, posthumous Adele Meyer sale, Christie's, London, lot 144, to Leggatt Brothers, London [see note 5]. By 1931, Elizabeth (Mrs. Whitelaw) Reid (b. 1858 – d. 1931), New York; until 1992, by descent within the family [see note 6]; January 17, 1992, anonymous (Reid descendant) sale, Sotheby's, New York, lot 96, sold to French and Co., New York, probably on behalf of an anonymous collector [see note 7]; January 26, 2006, anonymous sale, Sotheby's, New York, lot 72, sold to Noortman Master Paintings, Maastricht; 2012, sold by Noortman Master Paintings to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Marblehead, MA [see note 8].
NOTES:
[1] Upon the death of Jan Bisschop in 1771, John Hope and his uncle Adrian Hope purchased his art collection en bloc. A catalogue of Bisschop’s collection was written when these paintings were transferred to the Hope family. According to J.W Niemeijer, “De kunstverzameling van John Hope (1737-1784),” Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 32 (1981), p. 128, the Hopes continued to record any further art acquisitions on this same manuscript until March 1781. The manuscript states that the Hopes purchased this painting from J. van den Ende in 1776, but since this was recorded on what was initially an inventory of Bisschop’s collection, many publications have mistakenly stated the painting was in the collection of Bisschop.
[2] Following the death of John Hope in 1784, the painting collection was left in equal parts to his three sons. With the three sons still minors under Netherlandish law, their mother Philippa Barbara van der Haven was appointed their sole guardian and their father’s cousin, Henry Hope, was charged with the administration of their paternal inheritance. On June 18, 1794, John Hope’s estate was divided among the three sons, with Thomas relinquishing his one-third ownership of the painting collection and Henry Hope continuing to act as the other two sons’ agent. With an impending French invasion in the Netherlands, Henry Hope took the painting collection with him to England. A 1795 London inventory drawn up of the collection, described as “belonging to Mr. Henry Hope,” includes the van Huysum. Adrian Elias was declared insane sometime after 1802. Henry Hope died in 1811. Therefore, it is likely that Henry Phillip came into full possession of his father’s painting collection between 1802 and 1811. Henry Phillip certainly owned the van Huysum by 1815, as he is listed as the lender of the painting in a London exhibition held by the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom. For more on the inheritance of the Hope collection, see Niemeijer 1981 (see above, note 1). pp. 165-171.
[3] Henry Thomas Hope, the son of Thomas Hope, left his painting collection to his widow Anne Adele Bichat (b. 1814 – d. 1884) in 1862. Upon her death, the paintings were left to her grandson Henry Francis Pelham-Clinton-Hope. He sold 83 of the paintings to art dealer Asher Wertheimer in 1898 and publically sold another large part of the collection in a July 20, 1917 Christie’s sale in London. However, the MFA’s painting was not in either of these sales.
[4] According to the 1992 Sotheby’s catalogue.
[5] Buyer information according to a handwritten note in the catalogue. The painting’s pendant did not sell at the Meyer sale.
[6] The 1992 Sotheby’s catalogue states the family of the anonymous present owner acquired the painting between 1922 and 1931. According to Alan Chong and Wouter Kloek, Still-Life Paintings from the Netherlands 1550-1720 (Amsterdam, 1999), p. 286, the painting was acquired by Mrs. Whitelaw (Elizabeth) Reid and passed by descent through the family, who then anonymously put it up for auction in 1992.
[7] Buyer information according to Alexis Gregory, “The New Market for Old Masters,” Art and Auction 14, no. 9 (1992), p. 101.
[8] Provenance after 2006 is according to Dutch and Flemish Masterworks: From the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection by Frederik J. Duparc (Boston, 2020), p. 64.
NOTES:
[1] Upon the death of Jan Bisschop in 1771, John Hope and his uncle Adrian Hope purchased his art collection en bloc. A catalogue of Bisschop’s collection was written when these paintings were transferred to the Hope family. According to J.W Niemeijer, “De kunstverzameling van John Hope (1737-1784),” Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 32 (1981), p. 128, the Hopes continued to record any further art acquisitions on this same manuscript until March 1781. The manuscript states that the Hopes purchased this painting from J. van den Ende in 1776, but since this was recorded on what was initially an inventory of Bisschop’s collection, many publications have mistakenly stated the painting was in the collection of Bisschop.
[2] Following the death of John Hope in 1784, the painting collection was left in equal parts to his three sons. With the three sons still minors under Netherlandish law, their mother Philippa Barbara van der Haven was appointed their sole guardian and their father’s cousin, Henry Hope, was charged with the administration of their paternal inheritance. On June 18, 1794, John Hope’s estate was divided among the three sons, with Thomas relinquishing his one-third ownership of the painting collection and Henry Hope continuing to act as the other two sons’ agent. With an impending French invasion in the Netherlands, Henry Hope took the painting collection with him to England. A 1795 London inventory drawn up of the collection, described as “belonging to Mr. Henry Hope,” includes the van Huysum. Adrian Elias was declared insane sometime after 1802. Henry Hope died in 1811. Therefore, it is likely that Henry Phillip came into full possession of his father’s painting collection between 1802 and 1811. Henry Phillip certainly owned the van Huysum by 1815, as he is listed as the lender of the painting in a London exhibition held by the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom. For more on the inheritance of the Hope collection, see Niemeijer 1981 (see above, note 1). pp. 165-171.
[3] Henry Thomas Hope, the son of Thomas Hope, left his painting collection to his widow Anne Adele Bichat (b. 1814 – d. 1884) in 1862. Upon her death, the paintings were left to her grandson Henry Francis Pelham-Clinton-Hope. He sold 83 of the paintings to art dealer Asher Wertheimer in 1898 and publically sold another large part of the collection in a July 20, 1917 Christie’s sale in London. However, the MFA’s painting was not in either of these sales.
[4] According to the 1992 Sotheby’s catalogue.
[5] Buyer information according to a handwritten note in the catalogue. The painting’s pendant did not sell at the Meyer sale.
[6] The 1992 Sotheby’s catalogue states the family of the anonymous present owner acquired the painting between 1922 and 1931. According to Alan Chong and Wouter Kloek, Still-Life Paintings from the Netherlands 1550-1720 (Amsterdam, 1999), p. 286, the painting was acquired by Mrs. Whitelaw (Elizabeth) Reid and passed by descent through the family, who then anonymously put it up for auction in 1992.
[7] Buyer information according to Alexis Gregory, “The New Market for Old Masters,” Art and Auction 14, no. 9 (1992), p. 101.
[8] Provenance after 2006 is according to Dutch and Flemish Masterworks: From the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection by Frederik J. Duparc (Boston, 2020), p. 64.