MATTHIAS WITHOOS (AMERSFOORT C. 1627-1703 HOORN)

Following its emergence from the private collection of Hans Hoetink, this hitherto unrecorded ‘sotto bosco’ is characteristic of the oeuvre of Withoos. Albert Boersma, to whom we are grateful for endorsing the attribution after first-hand inspection, has pointed out various typical motifs recurring in his paintings, such as the poppies, honeysuckle, frog and Atalanta and Thistle butterflies. The prominent classical vase with a relief of a reclined, drunk satyr underneath grape vines together with a satyr playing a flute also reappears in other compositions, including those in the Museum Flehite, Amersfoort, and the Lo Savio Collection (see A. Boersma, Ander licht op Withoos: drie generaties Withoos, exhibition catalogue, Amersfoort, 2021-2022, pp. 405, 414, nos. LH 6 and LH 12, illustrated). Exceptional in the artist’s oeuvre is the large grasshopper (Caelifera) in the immediate foreground.

Albert Boersma dates the present work after 1672, by which time Withoos was active in Hoorn.