Mathias Withoos (Amersfoort 1627-Hoorn 1703)
Still Life of Flowers with a Watch and Skull c.1650-70
oil on canvas | 47.7 x 38.9 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 405622
Queen's Dining Room, Kensington Palace
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This is one of a pair of flower pieces (see also RCIN 405621) which have variously been attributed during their time in the Royal Collection to Mathias Withoos and Otto Marseus van Schrieck. Both artists specialise in a type of 'spooky' still life, with reptiles and decayed matter, which became popular from the 1650s. This work is signed M. Withoos, albeit indistinctly, in the lower right-hand corner. It combines the beauty of fresh rose blooms, with decaying leaves and snaking tendrils. The perishing vegetation supports a vanitas moral: the skull symbolises death and the open watch reminds us of the passage of time. The book could be intended to refer to the study of the Bible that may ensure salvation or merely to the vanity of literary endeavour.
Provenance
Probably acquired by Queen Anne
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Creator(s)
Previously attributed to (artist)Previously attributed to (artist)(nationality)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
oil on canvas
Measurements
47.7 x 38.9 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
65.0 x 56.1 x 7.4 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
Flowers with watch and chain