FRANKFURT SCHOOL, 17TH CENTURY Crayfish, lemons and a vase of flowers on an entablature First half of the 17th century Oil on canvas 61 x 76 cm Provenance Anonymous sale; New York, Sotheby’s, 7 April 1989, lot 77 (attributed to the 17th-century French School); At David Koetser, Zurich, 1989–90, catalogue no. 22 (attributed to J. van Winghen); Anonymous sale; Paris, Ader, Picard, Tajan, 5 December 1990, lot 30 (attributed to J. van Winghen); Acquired at this sale by the current owner; Private collection, Doubs Everything here works in tandem. Whether facing each other or side by side, objects and food appear in pairs. Two crayfish are thus neatly lined up in their silver dish under the watchful eye of two half-lemons observing them like a pair of eyes. Further to the right are two pieces of cutlery, a fork and a knife, which cross blades in a mock duel. Finally, dominating the composition—the summit meeting, as it were—is that of two vessels that are polar opposites in every respect. Starting with their material—finely blown crystal versus sturdy ceramic— their shape—slender versus stocky—but also their purpose: a glass and a jug. The transparency of the former, revealing a white wine with golden hues, is countered by the glazed opacity of the latter, an improvised vase in which a bouquet of roses is in the final stages of wilting, scattering its petals one by one onto the tablecloth. Here, the precious vies with the modest, refinement with the rustic, and the baroque with simplicity. Symbolism emerges to remind us of the vanity of earthly possessions. Luxury and simplicity stand on equal footing here. Time passes, sweeping everything away in its wake, corrupting, corroding and withering. The only sign of life in this still life, the fluttering butterfly, adds to the theme through the transience of its existence, which is even shorter than that of the bouquet. In the early 17th century, Frankfurt am Main and its surrounding region saw the emergence of a refined school of still-life painting, in which the painter Georg Flegel (1566–1638) was a leading figure. Of Moravian origin, this pupil of the Flemish artist Lucas Van Valckenborch (1535–1597) belonged to a small group of painters who would develop this genre—imported from Flanders and the United Provinces—with particular refinement. His compatriots and colleagues were Daniel Soreau (c. 1560– 1619) and Pieter Binoit (1590–1632); the former was the son of a Protestant family from Tournai who had taken refuge in Cologne to escape religious persecution in Wallonia. Along with other artists, he taught in the town of Hanau, attracting pupils such as Binoît, who was also of Walloon origin and was destined to become one of the leading masters in this field, as well as the Alsatian Sébastien Stoskopff (1597–1657). In all of them, one can detect Flemish and Dutch influences which are also evident in this composition.