Jan Van der Hamen and Leon

JAN VAN DER HAMEN Y LEÓN (Madrid, 1596 - 1631).
"Still life.
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Attached report issued by Don Ignacio Panicello.
Measurements: 34 x 49 cm; 63.5 x 77 cm (frame).
This painting presents a remarkable compositional similarity with an autograph work by Van der Hamen, currently in the Abelló collection. In both pieces the same austere interior can be observed, where a window frame serves as a base for the fruit bowl. In this particular case, the still life does not include the grapes present in the painting in the Abelló collection, but it does share the arrangement of the pears, the open pomegranate and the small flowers located at the bottom. In addition, the vase decorated with similar ornamental motifs stands out. This type of vase or fruit bowl was a recurrent resource in Van der Hamen's work, as can be seen in several of his paintings, including one belonging to the artistic collection of the Bank of Spain.

In the Banco de España's cataloguing of the latter work, entitled Still Life with Fruit and Sweets (c. 1621), it is noted that "it is possible that the painting remained in the artist's studio for some years, to serve as a prototype in the creation of copies and versions". The motifs of the still life exhibited here and its companion piece appear in other works by Van der Hamen, reflecting his regular practice of producing replicas and variants of his compositions in response to market demand. However, for the artist's lay contemporaries it would have been virtually impossible to discern whether the paintings were direct representations of the natural or whether they were partially recycled from other autograph images, as there was no discernible loss in their apparent "naturalism."

In Still Life with Fruit and Sweets and Basket and Box with Sweets, the motifs are arranged in generally symmetrical compositions within a fictitious window frame, a format created for still lifes by Juan Sánchez Cotán (1560-1627). Van der Hamen isolates the life-size motifs within the window frame and illuminates them with intense light projected against a dark background. This creates a striking interplay between the shadowy emptiness of the upper part of the canvas and the prominent volumes of the objects in the foreground, which seem to emerge from the gloom.

Van der Hamen was born in Madrid into an aristocratic family of Flemish origin who had long settled in Spain to serve the Habsburgs at court. Like his father and grandfather, he was a member of the Guard of Archers, a select corps of men of noble lineage charged with protecting the king. However, precisely because of this privilege, he could never be appointed painter to the king, as it was not allowed for one person to hold two high positions.

Van der Hamen and his followers played a leading role in the development of the Madrid still life in the first half of the 17th century, characterized by a style marked by tenebrist naturalism. However, the master did not devote himself exclusively to this genre, but also excelled as an excellent portraitist and figure painter. His characters, as well as the elements of his still lifes, were always distinguished by their high level of naturalism. He was an intellectual painter and, despite his early death, left an extensive legacy of works and treatises on art.

His first commission at court took place in 1615 and consisted of a still life that was to form a pair with another already painted by Sánchez Cotán. From then on, the influence of the master from Toledo was key in his production. In his early works, Van der Hamen proved to be an artist capable of gathering elements from different origins and adapting them to the Spanish public and to his own style. Thus, he received a certain Italian influence through the work of Juan Bautista Maíno, a Castilian painter trained in Italy. Likewise, his work reflects a Flemish substratum that refers to the origin of his family: he painted on copper or panel as well as on canvas, something uncommon in Spain, and he was well acquainted with the work of Flemish masters such as Clara Peeters and Frans Snyders.

Van der Hamen is represented in the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, the Metropolitan of New York and the National Galleries of Washington and Dublin, among others. He was a master especially concerned with the precise representation of the textures of objects, fruits and flesh, which he resolved with great naturalism. Likewise, he always presented food intact and highlighted by the luminous effects of tenebrism, as can be seen here. Since this painting belongs to the early seventeenth century, its composition is orderly and clear, characterized by horizontals and verticals that give it austerity and serenity.