Cologne circa 1590 – Hanau 1632
A Still life of Lemons and Pomegranates in a Basket with a Blue Tit and a Dragonfly and a Mouse eating Chestnuts
Oil on beechwood panel
H. 46.5cm. W. 65.9 cm.
PROVENANCE
Private Collection | Madrid
From whom acquired for the collection of Juan Manuel Grasset (1927-2020) in 1975
The Grasset Collection
LITERATURE
F.G. Meijer, F.G (2016). Brueghel to Canaletto, European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection. San Diego, p. 21;
Thomas, S. (2019). A Feast for the Eyes, European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection. Saint Petersburg, Florida, pp. 32–33 and 95, nr. 10
EXHIBITION
San Diego | The San Diego Museum of Art | Brueghel to Canaletto, European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection | 2 April – 2 August 2016;
Saint Petersburg Florida | Museum of Fine Arts | A Feast for the Eyes, European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection | 23 March – 2 September 2019 | Nr. 10
CATALOGUE NOTE
Born in Cologne, Peter Binoit is one of the most important first generation German painters of still lives. He trained in Hanau, possibly under still live painter Daniël Soreau, something after 1600 alongside Sebastian Stoskopff and his master´s twin sons, Peter and Isaac Soreau. He worked in Frankfurt in the 1620´s, returning to Hanau in 1627, the year of his marriage to Daniel Soreau´s niece, where he remained until his untimely death in 1632.
This charming still life is enlivened by a blue tit and a dragonfly resting within a large wicket basket filled with lemons and pomegranates set upon a stone ledge against a dark background. Beneath a splendid gilt tazza filled with grapes, plums and figs, a small mouse is depicted eating chestnuts. This well-preserved panel is a perfect example of Binoit’s charming style, bearing the influence of both German and Flemish models. For instance, the mouse found in the present work finds parallels in the works of several Flemish painters, such as Jan Brueghel the Elder, as well as those by German contemporaries such as Georg Flegel.
Although very few works by Binoit are either signed or dated, the similarities in style and handling between this and other detailed works by the artist, suggest a date of execution of about 1617.