Flowers in a Vase c.1688-1710
Oil on canvas | 173.4 x 84.1 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 402807
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The idea of painting large-scale decorative canvases full of exotic birds in a formal garden setting was invented in Holland by Melchior de Hondecoeter (1636-95, see for example 405354). Bogdani was born in Hungary and moved to Amsterdam in 1684, where Melchior de Hondecoeter was then working and where Bogdani must have learned or at least perfected his specialism – the depiction of plants, birds and animals. In 1688 he settled in England, where, according to George Vertue, he was ‘much encouraged’ by Queen Anne as well as working for William III.
This was probably painted for Queen Anne as part of the decoration of the King's Closet at Hampton Court, where it still hangs. A luxuriant collection of flowers in a richly carved vase, standing on a ledge beside a bullfinch.
Signed 'J. Bogdani'Provenance
Painted for Queen Anne; probably one of the two overdoors in the Closet under the stairs at Hampton Court in 1710 (nos 21-2); in the Green Room Room next to the King's Closet in 1750; in the King's Writing Closet at Hampton Court in 1819, when it appears in Pyne's illustrated Royal Residences (RCIN 922133).
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
173.4 x 84.1 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
Category
Object type(s)