Isaak Soreau (Frankfurt-Am-Main 1604 - in or after 1645), Still life of fruit in a basket on a ledge. Photo Sotheby's
oil on oak panel, prepared reverse; 57 by 79.5 cm.; 22 1/2 by 31 1/4 in. Estimate 100,000-150,000 GBP. Lot sold 110,500 GBP
PROVENANCE: With J.O. Leegenhoeck, Paris, 1972;
Acquired by the late father of the present owner, probably from the above.
LITTERATURE: E. Greindl, Les Peintres Flamands de Nature Morte au XVIIe Siècle, Brussels 1983, p. 383, cat. no. 22, reproduced, p. 310, fig. 226;
G. Bott, Die Stillebenmaler Soreau, Binoit, Codino und Marrell in Hanau und Frankfurt 1600-1650, Hanau 2001, p. 189, cat. no. WV.UIS.c, reproduced.
NOTE: Very few works by Soreau are signed. Gerhard Bott lists five, of which three are signed in full and two signed with initials, and he identified three dated pictures, two from 1638 and one from 1645.1 He was the son of Daniel Soreau, a wool merchant from Antwerp who emigrated to Frankfurt and later Hanau, and who is recorded by Sandrart as having taken up painting, although no work survives of him. Isaak's twin brother Peter Soreau was also a still life painter, but his few known works are more properly regarded as of the Hanau School, being influenced by Georg Flegel.
Isaak's entire secure oeuvre is close in style to Jacob van Hulsdonck, and although there is no documentary record of him there, he must have spent some time in Antwerp, probably in the studio of Jacob van Hulsdonck. Many of these works, including this one are composed of motifs found in Hulsdonck's work. One of his still lifes is known to have been painted on a panel with an Antwerp mark, and many of them, including this one, are on characteristically thin Flemish panels with prepared reverses to ward off warping.
Although only three works by Soreau are dated, some idea of chronology can be reached. Both works dated 1638 are very close to Hulsdonck in style and composition, while the still life of fruit from 1645 is much less Flemish and has more in common with the Hanau School, and the few works of his brother Peter.
1. One reads 16.8, the third digit being illegible, but it is close in style to the other work from that year, and it is reasonable to assume that the missing digit is a 3. See Bott, under Literature, pp. 172, 187, 188, cat. nos. WV.IS.1, WV.IS.46, WV.IS.49, all reproduced.
Sotheby's. Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale. London | 03 juil. 2013, 07:00 PM - www.sothebys.com