1025

The two excellent still lifes are made by the Antwerp master Jacob van de Kerckhoven, better known by his Italianated name Jacopo (or Giacomo) da Castello, after the district of Venice where he lived. The artist was a student of the famous still life and animal painter Jan Fyt (1611 – 1661) in Antwerp and lived in Venice from 1685, where he became court painter to the Doge. Evidence of his success in the lagoon city are also numerous mentions of his paintings in the large collections of the time (e.g. Savorgnan, Manfrin; cf. Cottino/D'Aliagno (ed.) 2011, no. 77). The affiliation of the paintings to this artist is undisputed not only by their excellent quality and stylistic features, but also by a trompe l'oeil card attached to the basket of the still life with a boar's head with the inscription: "Al Sig. Jacobus Vanden Kerckhoven / Pittor fiamengho / in Vinegia”. This can also point to a practice common at the time, according to which the game and vegetables to be painted were physically handed over to the artist, so to speak as an "advance".
Both compositions are presented in an unembellished interior. In the first painting, the game is neatly arranged on a diagonal stone step, in front of which a lying pheasant and a cauliflower lean optically towards the viewer. The second depiction is characterized by an elegant, more methodical composition, with the hare as the thematic and visual focal point.