Hendrick Schoock und Gerard Hoet d.Ä.
Allegory of Autumn (Vertumus and Pomona)
Hendrick Schoock was a pupil of Abraham Bloemaert and Jan Davidsz de Heem. Together with Gerard Hoet, he was the founder of the Utrecht School of arts. Only a few paintings by H. Schoock have been identified. His still lifes are stylistically similiar to his master de Heem, in whose succession he worked. Typical are rich bouquets of flowers in vases as well as lavishly filled fruit baskets, nature scenes with plants, flowers and herbs - often enlivened by reptiles. In contrast to his role models and inspirers, however, Schoock uses multiple repetitions of the objects he has included in the picture as motifs and subordinates them all to a curved pictorial ornament.
The collaboration between two well-known artists, as here with the painter Gerard Hoet the Elder, who created the figural staffage for both paintings, developed in Flanders in the second half of the 17th century, when large-format paintings were in fashion. This fusion of decorative still lifes with figures, a kind of division of labour, was a logical consequence, as most painters specialized in only one genre.
This pair of paintings can be counted among the very rare signed works by Hendrick Schoock in collaboration with Gerard Hoet the Elder and was probably painted between 1696 and 1710.
A very similar painting, also depicting the allegory of Autumn, also Vertumnus and Pomona, can be found in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
Prov.: Austrian monastery property for over 200 years,
Private collection, Austria
The collaboration between two well-known artists, as here with the painter Gerard Hoet the Elder, who created the figural staffage for both paintings, developed in Flanders in the second half of the 17th century, when large-format paintings were in fashion. This fusion of decorative still lifes with figures, a kind of division of labour, was a logical consequence, as most painters specialized in only one genre.
This pair of paintings can be counted among the very rare signed works by Hendrick Schoock in collaboration with Gerard Hoet the Elder and was probably painted between 1696 and 1710.
A very similar painting, also depicting the allegory of Autumn, also Vertumnus and Pomona, can be found in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
Prov.: Austrian monastery property for over 200 years,
Private collection, Austria