Still Life with Books

• Still Life with Books
• Vanitas Still Life

SK-A-4090

Appearances can be deceiving. What at first sight looks to be an overturned lute is just an old wooden case for the instrument. The books, too, are a disappointment; they are merely empty bindings, limp covers of leather or parchment meant to hold bills and other documents. These are all old objects – cast off, worthless and transitory.

painter: Jan Lievens

c. 1627 - c. 1628

olieverf op paneel

height 91 cm x width 120 cm

Purchased with the support of the Stichting tot Bevordering van de Belangen van het Rijksmuseum

purchase 1963

Public domain

…; private collection, England;{Note RMA.} ...; dealer Basil Wheeler, London;{Note RMA.} ...; the Montpellier Galleries, London, as P. Potter, 28 April 1960;{Note RMA.} ...; dealer Han Jüngeling, The Hague (on loan to the Dordrechts Museum), 1960-63;{Bol in Dordrecht 1960, p. 14; Bol in Dordrecht 1962, p. 14; note RMA.} from whom, fl. 75,000, to the museum as a gift of the Commissie voor Fotoverkoop, 1963

Please note that this provenance was formulated with a special focus on provenance research for the years 1933-45 and could therefore be incomplete. There may be more (mostly earlier) provenance information known in the museum. In case this item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45, the Rijksmuseum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.

To refer to this object, please use the following persistent URL:

https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200107940