JOHANN VAN DORNE
Active Louvain, early 19th century
Ref: CD 105
Still life of flowers in a tall white jug on a stone table, with a Comma (Polygonia c-album) and a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) butterfly
Signed and dated lower left: Johann van Dorne f. 1812
Oil on canvas: 27 x 22 ½ in / 68.6 x 57.2 cm
Frame size: 35 x 30 ½ in / 88.9 x 77.5 cm
In a reverse ripple faux tortoiseshell Dutch style frame
Provenance:
Lasson Gallery, London, 1973
Private collection, UK
Exhibited:
London, Lasson Gallery, May-June 1973, no.11
Literature:
Sam Segal and Klara Alen, Dutch and Flemish Flower Pieces, Leiden and Boston 2020, vol. II, pp.897-8, illus. in colour
Johann van Dorne was probably related, perhaps a brother, of the still life painter Martin van Dorne (1736-1808), who was a Court Painter to Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands. Although Martin’s style is different, the delicacy with which he handles foliage echoes this work by Johann. Segal and Alen note of the present painting that ‘This a work that deviates quite a bit from traditional eighteenth and nineteenth century flower pieces, particularly in the depiction of the tall, elegant vase and the quantity of flowers spread out in the foreground’[1].
Dorne’s mixture of well-established garden species and wildflowers gives the bouquet its charming air of informality. Instead of choosing the imposing, sculptural species, like roses and tulips, beloved of seventeenth and eighteenth century flower painters, he delights in the straggling stems of nasturtiums and the delicate flowers of rose bay willow herb and jasmine. The flowers glow against a dark grey background, following the practice of early seventeenth century Flemish flower specialists such as Daniel Seghers (1590-1661). By 1812, when this painting was made, Flemish gardens had the benefit of centuries of plant collecting from across the globe. Nasturtiums, for example, were brought from South America by Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century. Originally called Indian cress (both flowers and leaves are edible) and prized for their vivid colours, they became particularly popular in bedding schemes in the nineteenth century. More unusual and exotic is the salmon-coloured salvia (Salvia coccinea) at the central left of the bouquet, another import from America, introduced in the eighteenth century. It is not fully hardy in northern Europe and remains quite a rare plant there. The bouquet is crowned by a scarlet and white opium poppy, juxtaposed between the delicate golden fronds of meadow rue and a brilliant yellow hawkweed flower.
We are very grateful to Dr Celia Fisher for the identification of the flowers and notes on the flower species.
[1] Segal and Alen, op. cit., p.898.
