London, Richard Green, Exhibition of Old Master Paintings, 1982, no. 7.
London, Richard Green, Exhibition of Fine Old Master Paintings, 1991, no. 4.

In this characteristic example of Hulsdonck’s art, a wicker basket overflowing with peaches, plums and grapes stands on a plain wooden table.  More peaches, plums and two bunches of grapes are scattered across the table top, together with half a peach, cut open to reveal its brilliant red interior.  The drops of water that appear on the wooden surface and glisten on some of the leaves are typical of Hulsdonck and appear in nearly all his paintings.  The composition is further enlivened by the presence of a fly, a cockchafer beetle, and a Large Tortoiseshell butterfly (Nymphalis polychloris), which has alighted near the edge of the table and rests with its wings spread open.

Jacob van Hulsdonck was one of the most talented of the early Flemish specialists in still-life painting, a branch of art that only emerged as an independent genre in the first decade of the seventeenth century.  He was born in Antwerp in 1582, but spent his early years in the Dutch port of Middelburg, where he is thought to have received at least part of his training.  The artist had returned to Antwerp by 1608, where he enrolled as master in the Guild of St. Luke.  From the time of his first marriage in 1609 until his death in 1647, he lived in the same house in the Happartstraat in Antwerp. 

Despite a relatively long career, Hulsdonck left only a small oeuvre, numbering far fewer than one hundred paintings.  More than half of his paintings bear his characteristic full signature in capital letters, as we see here, while other examples are signed just with a monogram.  Only one dated work is known - an early banquet piece, in the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle - painted in 1614[i]. 

Owing to the almost complete lack of dated paintings it is difficult to establish a firm chronology for Hulsdonck’s oeuvre.  Nevertheless, his still lifes underwent a discernible stylistic development from which it has been possible to draw some general conclusions.  In his early career, Hulsdonck painted half a dozen or so large still lifes, comprising tables laid with a wide variety of foodstuffs, which are stylistically similar to the Barnard Castle painting.  The still lifes in this group employ a steeply pitched table, viewed from a high viewpoint, with the bottom edge of the table situated close to the picture plane: the backgrounds are invariably dark.  Quite soon, probably already in the 1610s, he seems to have given up painting these large, complex compositions and switched to smaller still lifes featuring one prominent basket or bowl of fruit, sometimes with a small vase of flowers to one side.  A few still lifes consisting of a single bouquet of flowers are also known.  Later on, the arrangements are viewed from a lower, more natural viewpoint and the backgrounds become gradually lighter.  A meticulous attention to detail is characteristic of all van Hulsdonck’s paintings and this may account partly for his relatively small production.

Judging from its low viewpoint, the cool, daylight tones, and relatively light background, the painting under discussion can be assigned to the artist’s later period of activity, probably in the late 1630s or early 1640s.  Hulsdonck’s mastery in rendering a variety of textures is fully demonstrated here from his treatment of the velvety skins of the peaches, and the bloom-coated plums, with ‘polished’ marks where they have been fingered, to the grain of the wooden table top complete with woodworm holes. 

BIOGRAPHY

Few details of the life of Jacob van Hulsdonck are documented.  He was born in Antwerp in 1582, and spent part of his youth in Middelburg, where he reportedly received part of his training.  However, a close look at his known oeuvre does not suggest a pupillage with Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (1573-1621), as has sometimes been proposed.  Closer affinities can be found with the works of Osias Beert the Elder (c. 1580-1623/24), one of the leading still-life painters of early seventeenth-century Antwerp, suggesting that he may have worked in Beert’s circle before enrolling as a master in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1608.  Apparently, he also had ties with members of the Brueghel family inasmuch as he is recorded as a witness to the will of Ambrosius Brueghel (1617-1675), a son of Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625)[ii].  On 14 November 1609, Hulsdonck married Maria la Hoes: the couple had seven children, including a son Gillis (b. 1626), who also became a painter.  Following the death of his first wife in 1629, the artist married Josina Peeters on 17 August 1632.  From 1609 until his death in early 1647, Hulsdonck lived in the same house in the Happartstraat in Antwerp.