Name/Title
Still Life with CatEntry/Object ID
VC.58.6 a-bDescription
a. Painting: Still-life with cat: arrangement includes shallow wooden tub with fish; basket (wicker), with melon, cut open, celery, mushrooms, apples; with tub and basket on plain wooden table, are oysters, another fish, onions, carrots, a cabbage, three birds (one, a partridge, another, a duck, and the third, a song-bird); amongst the arrangement on the table, a grey-and-white striped cat steals a fish, which it holds in its mouth, as it glances sidewise, all but its head, back, one front and one hind paw, and its tail, hidden behind the birds; black background; naturalistic coloring of vegetables, etc.
b. Frame: Wooden, black-painted; series of cyma curves splay from inner to outer areas.Artwork Details
Medium
Canvas, Oil Paint, Canvas, oil paintMade/Created
Artist Information
Artist
UnknownAttribution
ArtistNotes
Dates: 1700 - 1899
Date made: r. 1700 - 1899Dimensions
Dimension Description
w. frameHeight
29-1/4 inLength
25-3/4 inDimension Notes
Display Dimensions: 29 1/4 x 25 3/4 in. (74.3 x 65.4 cm)Condition
Notes
Remarks: There are local areas of lifting in the frame which will be consolidated with sturgeon glue and retouched with watercolor. (Conditiion analysis and treatment proposal: Shawn Digney-Peer)Notes
Overall Analysis: Condition Before Treatment: The existing glue lining is sound, as is the paint. There appears to be a second layer of paint beneath the visible one which does not appear to be the same ages as the visible one. The top paint layer is in fairly good condition, with some losses and abrasion. There is a loss to the paint and canvas at the bottom center which has been overpainted. The surface is covered with a thick layer of discolored varnish.
Treatment: The existing varnish and overpaint were removed with acetone. Some overfills in the loss were removed with hot water and a scalpel. No attempt was made to removed the top layer of paint to reveal the lower layer. Areas at the edges of the loss were filled with gesso. A first varnish layer of Acryloid B-67 was sprayed. Inpainting was carried out using dry pigments in polyvinyl acetate resin AYAC. A final varnish layer of Acryloid B-72 was sprayed. The painting was backed with Fome-cor, the existing metal lip-over stripping was reattached and the painting was resecured in the existing frame.Notes
Overall Analysis: Sheldon Keck examined the painting quite extensively in 1958, and carried out some minor surface treatment. Details of condition: Cleaned and rebacked, March 1958, by the Kecks, Brooklyn, N.Y.Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Van Cortlandt FamilyNotes
Former ownerPerson or Organization
Pierre Van Cortlandt (1721-1814)Notes
Former ownerGeneral Notes
Note Type
Curatorial RemarksNote
Sheldon Keck, restorer, who treated VC.58.6, states that X-ray examination has revealed an old overpainting, but was not sufficiently positive to have justified removing surface painting; and that the painting was heavily over-painted. On basis of his technical observations, he attributes VC.58.6 "European, 19th century (?)". Infra-red examinations revealed nothing, also.
On stylistic basis, VC.58.6 is definitely not 17th century, as was once the attribution. Possibly, the still-life is 18th century, over-painted in the 19th century. It is also possible that the work is 19th century, perhaps a copy of an early work, or a pastiche of several such Dutch still-lifes.Note Type
General NoteNote
Van Cortlandt family possessionNote Type
StorageNoteNote
Home Location: Historic Hudson Valley, Van Cortlandt Manor, Dining Room