Attributed To Abraham Begeyn (1637 - 1697), A Forest Floor

Attributed to Abraham Begeyn
Dutch painter
Leiden 1637 – 1697 Berlin
Forest floor with butterflies, a dragonfly and a lizard
Oil on canvas : 58,1 X 50,3 cm
Unsigned
Frame : 71,9 X 63,8 cm

Our painter has skilfully represented at dusk some humble inhabitants of the forest (three butterflies, a dragonfly and a lizard) around a beautifully lit thistle. This painting must date from between 1655 (when Begeyn joined the Leiden Painter’s Guild) and 1673 (when he fled from Holland to England.

Begeyn was influenced by the Dutch painter Otto Marseus van Schrieck (1619/20 – 1678) who had invented this new subject in painting: so-called forest floors or nature pieces. These were accurate depictions of a micro-cosmos of wild flowers and thistles, butterflies, insects, frogs, toads, lizards and even snakes.

All my paintings stand fully documented on my website:
https://www.jeanmoust.com/artists/still-lifes-and-animal-scenes/begeyn-attributed-to-abraham/a-forest-floor-with-butterflies -a-drgonfly-and-a-lizard-4106561