Still Life with Grapes, Wine Glass and a Crab
- Date
- c. 1654
- Object type
- painting
- Technique
- oil
- Material
- wood
- Dimensions
- 32,7 x 23,8 cm
- Acquisition date
- 1783
- Location
- The Palace on the Isle - Portrait Room, ground floor
- Marks and inscriptions
- signed G. Van. Deÿnum on edge of table
- Place of Origin
- Antwerpia (Belgium)
- Owner
- The Royal Łazienki
- Museum number
- ŁKr 832
One of a pair of still lifes [See Still Life with Wine Glass, Fruits, and a Shrimp, cat. no. 34]; in the catalogues of the Stanisław August collection the author is given as ‘Wan Dynum’. …
Little is known about the artist’s life and work. He most probably came from a Flemish family which had settled in Antwerp. He is known from approx. 10 signed, autograph works (all of them still lifes), mainly in private collections. …
Van Deynum’s still lifes sometimes bear the false signature of Jan Davidsz. de Heem, undoubtedly to increase their commercial value. De Heem, a Dutchman, one of the most sought-after painters of still lifes at that time, in the years 1636–64 and 1672–83 was active in Antwerp—van Deynum’s hometown. Van Deynum often copied fragments of de Heem’s still lifes, chiefly those made in the 1640s and 1650s … , the Łazienki painting being one such example. It repeats the left side of de Heem’s representation of Still Life with Fruit and Herringin the Liechtenstein Museum (Vienna), dating from c. 1654 … , adding a glass cup which does not exist in the original. De Heem’s composition was very popular and was copied by various artists … .
The quality of van Deynum’s work is, of course, nowhere near to that of de Heem’s still lifes. The Łazienki painting lacks precision in the rendering of details, the elegance and subtlety in defining the forms, the mastery in depicting the texture of objects, and the nuances of colour which can be found in de Heem’s still lifes … . [See D. Juszczak, H. Małachowicz, The Stanisław August Collection of Paintings at the Royal Łazienki. Catalogue, Royal Łazienki Museum, Warsaw 2016, no. 33, pp. 146–147.]
