(active 1655–1664)
A still life of fruit in a basket
bears signature middle left: J. D. De Heem f
oil on panel, 56 x 67.8 cm, framed

Provenance:
with Galerie Hörhammer, Helsinki (according to a label on the reverse);
Private collection
Anonymous Sale, Christie’s, New York, 29th January 1999, lot 128 (with confirmation of attribution by Sam Segal)
where purchased by the parents of the present owner.

We are grateful to Fred Meijer for confirming the attribution.

Few works by Laurens Craen are known. In 1984 Segal listed twenty such paintings, of which the majority were signed, but only a small number were dated. According to Segal the earliest painting by this artist dates to 1643, and the latest work is dated 1661 or 1666.

In the Lexikon der Holländischen Stilllebenmaler im 17. Jahrhundert by E. Gemar-Koeltzsch (Lingen 1995, p. 271) it states that : ‘As a rule Craen’s tonal still lifes arranged on a table portray either a left or right-hand table corner half-covered with cloth, on which rests a pewter plate containing pomegranates or fish and crustaceans. This central motif is often accompanied by a peeled lemon and invariably by grapes, whose vine leaves are reminiscent of the vines in the paintings of Balthasar van der Ast; though it is through this motif that the difference between the master and his follower is most apparent. Craen chose to render his vine leaves larger and integrated them into the main diagonal of the composition. The leaves trail between the light and the shadow, thus working as an intermediary between the foreground and the background. Balthasar van der Ast painted his vine leaves as if they were just silhouettes against the background. For Ast the vine leaves separated the table from the background, a model from which he rarely deviated. In contrast to this very dark backdrop, Craen preferred to portray an illuminated and vertically accentuated projection on a wall or a corner of the room.’