Classical still life with flowers and a dragonfly was executed by important early 19th Century flower painter from the Nothern Netherlands Georgius Jacobus Johannes van Os (1782 The Hague – 1861 Paris). He also devoted himself to landscaping and porcelain painting.
He was a son and pupil of the painters Jan van Os and Susanna de la Croix, and a brother of the painters Pieter van Os and Maria Margaretha van Os. In 1809 he won the first prize of the Society Felix Meritis in Amsterdam for a still life in which genre he later specialized. Van Os became Ridder in de orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw in 1812.From 1816 to 1820 he worked in Amsterdam. In 1822 he moved to Paris, where he worked for the Sèvres porcelain factory. The French called him the Rubens of Floral Painting.
He painted landscapes, but was, like his father, best known as a painter of flowers. Starting in the 1830s he spent his summers in Haarlem, where he continued working on flower illustrations for the "Flora Batava" edited by Jan Kops.
Literature: in French: E. Benezit " Dictionary of painters, sculptors, decorators and etchers"(in French), Paris, 1999; in German:Thieme/Becker "Allgemeines Kuenstlerlexikon". Leipzig, 1999; ADEC register; different web sites in on-line including Wikipedia.
Inscription: signed lower left: „ G.J.J.Van Os", on the back of the stretcher - old inscription with the artist‘s name.
Technique: oil on canvas, luxuriousy 18th Century Wood-crafted and gold-plated frame.
Measurements: unframed w 13 1/3" x h 17 3/4" (34 x 45 cm); framed w 18 1/2" x h 22 7/8" (47 x 58 cm).
Condition: in good condition, antique relining of original canvas. |