Still Life Of A Bouquet Of Summer Flowers, 19th Century By Matthijs Maris (1839-1917)

Still Life of a Bouquet of Summer Flowers, 19th Century by Matthijs MARIS (1839-1917) auction records at $160,000 Large 19th century still life of a bouquet of summer flowers, oil on canvas by Matthijs Maris. Excellent quality and condition, signed and presented in its original gilt frame. Dimensions: 20" x 15" framed approximately Artist Biography Matthijs Maris was the brother of Jacob and Willem Maris. He received a pension from the Dutch Crown. He moved to Antwerp around 1855 to be with his brother. There he studied with Nicaise de Keyser and Louis Meijer. In 1860 he spent time in Germany and Switzerland and was particularly interested in the work of Kaulbach and Rethel. He then moved to Paris, where he studied under Hébert at the École des Beaux-Arts and joined the ranks of the Avant-Garde. Maris's stay in the French capital coincided with the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and he served in the National Guard. Maris is said to have begun painting in 1852, at the age of 13. Even at this young age he was fiercely independent and his brother Jacob does not seem to have had any influence on his style. Unlike his brother Jacob, Matthijs Maris was less concerned with painting simply and expressively from life than with giving free rein to his considerable imagination. It has been suggested that he was influenced by the Romantic movement but, if so, it was Shakespearean Romanticism. It is difficult to think of a single painter who has managed to capture Shakespeare on canvas with such success. Paintings such as Prince and Princess and The King's Children may not have been directly drawn from Shakespeare's dramas, but they were undoubtedly inspired by them. A similar poeticism can be found in Maris's landscapes and etchings. Maris is known to have exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1872 with The Dutch Village and in 1873 with The Baptism. The latter painting may have been exhibited from London, where Maris had accepted a position offered to him a year earlier by the draughtsman Daniel Cattier. Group exhibitions 2003, Lasting Attraction: Dutch Artists in Italy, 1806-1940 (De Blijvende Verlokking: Dutch Artists in Italy, 1806-1940), Kunsthal, Rotterdam (an exhibition highlighting the impact of travels to Italy on Dutch artists) Solo exhibitions 2008, The Maris Brothers and the Hague School, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague Bibliography Heteren, Marjan van, et al.: The Poetry of Reality: Nineteenth-Century Dutch Painters, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2000. De Blijvende Verlokking: Dutch Artists in Italy, 1806-1940, exhibition catalogue, Kunsthal, Rotterdam, 2003.