Spurge laurel (Daphne laureola), with small green flowers with red centres

Book Description

Signed 'J Van Huysum' (lower right). Pencil and watercolour, crowned shield with fleur-de-lys watermark. 19 1/2 x 12 5/8 inches. A captivating image of a triple-stemmed spray of spurge laurel with small green flowers with red centres. Jacob van Huysum was born in Amsterdam in about 1687, a member of a renowned family of professional flower painters who enjoyed considerable success in Holland. His father was Justus van Huysum (1659- 1716), and his brother Jan van Huysum (1682-1749). Jacob painted in much the same manner as his brother, and as with his brother's work, many of his drawings betray the temperament of an artist rather than that of a botanical illustrator. His 'work, especially in England, has often been mistaken for his brother's. Van Huysum came to England about 1721, in which year he was living in the house of a patron, Mr. Lockyear of the South Sea House. Subsequently he was patronised by Sir Robert Walpole, who received him as an intimate of his house at Chelsea, and employed him to paint flowerpieces... for the decoration of the great house at Houghton in Norfolk' (DNB ). He also provided the majority of the drawings for the 50 illustrations to John Martyn's Historia Plantarum Rariorum (London: 1728- 38), as well all the drawings to another work, Catalogus Plantarum.. A catalogue of trees, shrubs, plants and flowers (London: 1730). The present drawing shows the painterly approach where the artist, whilst not sacrificing botanical accuracy, tries to capture the essence of his subject. His work offers a contrast to the more strictly scientific approach of Georg Dionysius Ehret, his younger contemporary and sometime colleague. Cf. Henrey II, p.213

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