Lines and Colors art blog

Eye Candy for Today:Jacob Marrel still life

Still Life With Red, Black And Green Grapes On The Vine, Together With Oranges, A Partly-Peeled Lemon And A Melon On A Draped Table-Top, Jacob Marrel
Still Life With Red, Black And Green Grapes On The Vine, Together With Oranges, A Partly-Peeled Lemon And A Melon On A Draped Table-Top, Jacob Marrel

Roughly 20 x 29 inches (51 x 74 cm), oil on panel. Link is to Sotheby’s auction (image file here). As this is the only image I can find, I assume the painting is in a private collection.

The title is a good example of how titles are assigned to so many paintings by contemporary cataloggers, and not by the artists themselves. There was apparently also confusion, deliberately created, by previous hands in an attempt to pass the work off at that of another 17th century Dutch still life painter, Jan Mortel, who was better known at the time and whose work therefore commanded higher prices.

Like many of his contemporaries, Marrel has filled his composition with fascinating detail, including insects that appear to be of specifically identifiable species.

I particularly like the delicately handled vines, some of which are barely visible as they wind into the background darkness. In that respect, it’s interesting to compare paintings like this with those of Jacob van Walscapelle (also here).


Comments

2 responses to “Eye Candy for Today:Jacob Marrel still life”

  1. Coincidentally, on July 26th I was visiting again The National Gallery in central London. There I could admire many of Jacob Marrell paintings. It was the attention to flowers details and the exquisite insets and snails that draw me to his artworks. Beautiful paintings.
    Nice, you mentioned here.

  2. AKA Jacob Marelus, Jacob Marrell, Jacob Marrellus, Jacob Marrelus, Jacob Marzell, Jakob Marzell, Jakob Marsell, Jacob Morel, Jacob Moreel, Jacob Morrel, Jacob Morsel, Jacob Murel, with contingency-names, invented to an artist whose identity has been lost (Monogrammist) as JCSMARL, JM, JMR, IM, JAMOREL, JMOB, even as RR.