Frans van Everbroeck

Frans van Everbroeck[1] (c. 1628– between 1676 and 1693) was a Flemish still life painter who is known for his fruit still lifes, vanitas still lifes and pronkstillevens. He was active in Antwerp, Amsterdam and London.[2]

Garland of fruit surrounding St Joseph with the Child Jesus

Life

Information about the life of Frans van Everbroeck is rather sketchy. He is believed to have been born around 1628, likely in Antwerp.[2] He is first recorded when in the guild year 1654/1655 he was registered at the Guild of Saint Luke of Antwerp as a pupil of the prominent still life painter Joris van Son.[3]

Memento Mori

He became a master in the local Guild in 1662. As he was admitted as a 'wijnmeester' (wine master') it is likely his father was or had been a master of the Guild.[4]

Van Everbroeck was active in Antwerp until 1672 except for a brief period in 1667 during which he worked in Amsterdam.[5] Peeter Lints was registered as his pupil in the Guild year 1672–73. The next record on the artist places him in England where in 1676 he was admitted to the painter's guild in London (the Painter Stainers Company). During the period 1689 to 1693, paintings by van Everbroeck were regularly offered at English auctions. This could mean that he was possibly still active in London at that time.[2]

The date and place of his death are unknown.[2]

Work

Van Everbroeck painted fruit still lifes, vanitas still lifes and pronkstillevens, i.e. sumptuous still lifes of luxurious objects.[2][6]

A number of his still lifes fall into the category of 'garland paintings'. Garland paintings are a type of still life invented in early 17th century Antwerp and whose earliest practitioner was Jan Brueghel the Elder. Paintings in this genre typically show a flower or, less frequently, fruit garland around a devotional image or portrait. Garland paintings were usually collaborations between a still life and a figure painter.[7]

A sumptuous collection of fruit

Van Everbroeck collaborated on garland paintings with other painters, but it is not recorded who were his collaborators. The collaborators painted the figure or figures inside the cartouche while van Everbroeck painted the fruit garland. An example is the Garland of fruit surrounding St Joseph with the Child Jesus (1667, at Hampel Fine Art Auctions on 27 March 2009 in Munich, lot 280). The artist has included a beetle on the stone ledge and a butterfly on the left side among the fruit in the garland. Van Everbroeck rendered the fruits in a luminescent and naturalistic manner, with a pronounced depth.[8] Another example of his production in this genre is A cartouche still life of flowers and fruit around a portrait of a lady dressed as a shepherdess (At Sotheby's on 3 May 2017 in London, lot 138).[9]

Van Everbroeck is also known for his vanitas still lifes, a genre of still lifes which offers a reflection on the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits. An example is the composition Memento Mori (At Van Ham Kunstauktionen on 17 May 2013 in Cologne, lot 478).[10] This composition contains the typical symbolism of vanitas paintings: a skull, soap bubbles, a candle, an hourglass, a watch and a book (symbolising the futility of mankind's higher aspirations). On a paper are written the words Memento mori (Latin: "remember that you have to die"), one of the principal themes of vanitas paintings.[11]

The Dutch painters Abraham Mignon and Maria van Oosterwyck are regarded as his followers.[6]

References
  1. Name variations: Francis van Eevenbrock, J. van Euersbrecht, Francis van Everbroeck, Francois Everbroeck, Francois van Everbroeck, Frans Van Everbroeck, Frans van Everbroek, Monogrammist FVE
  2. Frans van Everbroeck at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (in Dutch)
  3. De liggeren en andere historische archieven der Antwerpsche sint Lucasgilde Volume 2, by Ph. Rombouts and Th. van Lerius, Antwerp, 1864, p. 250, on Google books (in Dutch)
  4. De liggeren, p. 324
  5. Marie-Louise Hairs, Dominique Finet, 'The Flemish Flower Painters in the XVIIth Century', International Specialized Book Service Incorporated, 1985, p. 402
  6. Frans van Everbroeck, An opulent still-life with a lobster, grapes, peaches, pomegranates, a melon and wild strawberries on a stone parapet at Dorotheum
  7. Ursula Härting, Review of Susan Merriam, Seventeenth-Century Flemish Garland Paintings. Still Life, Vision and the Devotional Image
  8. Frans van Everbroeck, Garland of Flowers Surrounding the Holy Family at Hampel Fine Art Auctions (in German)
  9. Frans van Everbroeck, A cartouche still life of flowers and fruit around a portrait of a lady dressed as a shepherdess at Sotheby's
  10. Frans van Everbroeck, Memento Mori at Van Ham Kunstauktionen (in German)
  11. Frans van Everbroeck, Memento Mori at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (in Dutch)
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