(Antwerp 1587–1661)
A breakfast still life with fish, bread, butter and a lemon in front of a ewer, glasses and a silver beaker,
oil on canvas, 34 x 49 cm, framed

Provenance:
formerly Gatchina Palace near St. Petersburg (an inventory number from Gatchina and an inscription in Russian on the reverse);
sale, Leo Spik, Berlin, October 1973;
Private collection, Germany

When the present painting was sold at the Leo Spik auction house in Berlin in 1973, it came with a certificate issued by Walther Bernt (May 1973). He wrote: ‘an incontestable, colouristic charming, and excellent preserved work by the Antwerp stilllife painter Adriaenssen. Identical vessels recur in a still life owned by the museum of Ghent.’

The attribution has also independently been confirmed by Fred Meijer of the RKD, The Hague (written communication, 25 February 2016).

Alexander Adriaenssen was an important still life painter who had specialised in the depiction of fish, birds, and flowers at an early stage in his career. His still lifes are characterised by brownish silvery hues animated by skilfully placed highlights. The artist applied his paints in a transparent manner. Adriaenssen’s still lifes of fish are occasionally mistaken for those by Abraham van Beyeren.