The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 20, 2024

Gooseberries on a Table

Gooseberries on a Table

1701
(Dutch, 1660–1707)
Netherlands, early 18th Century
oil on paper mounted on wood
Framed: 45.5 x 38.5 x 4.5 cm (17 15/16 x 15 3/16 x 1 3/4 in.); Unframed: 29.7 x 22.8 cm (11 11/16 x 9 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1987.32
Location: 213 Dutch Painting

Description

Coorte worked in Middelburg, a wealthy maritime city in the southern part of the Netherlands that fostered a poetic, scientific, and spiritual examination of the natural world. Gooseberries—a modest, local pleasure—could be picked in the wild, although Dutch gardeners in the 1600s were the first to cultivate them to improve their taste. The strong illumination gives the plant a stark grandeur, despite the small scale, and the dark background emphasizes the fruit's delicate translucency. The dessicated flower petals and waxy leaves contrast with the succulent gooseberries, with their skin on the verge of bursting.
  • -1907
    Auguste Coster [d. 1907], Brussels
    1907
    (Le Roy, Brussels, Coster sale, April 4-6, 1907, lot 69, possibly sold to Max Massot)
    -1964
    Max Massot, Belgium, sold to P. de Boer
    1964
    (Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam, sold to Mrs. Wulf, The Hague)1
    1964-1975
    Mrs. Wulf, The Hague, exchanged with P. de Boer for a marine painting by J. van Diest
    1975
    (Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam, sold to Johnny Oppenheimer)
    1975-1986
    Johnny Oppenheimer, Tönnersjö, Eldsberga, Sweden, consigned to Charles Roelofsz Gallery, Amsterdam1
    1986
    (Charles Roelofsz Gallery, Amsterdam)
    1986
    (Sam Nijstad, The Hague, and K. Waterman Gallery, Amsterdam, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1987-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 The painting is attributed to “A. Coorbe" [sic] and is entitled "Groseilles" in the sale catalogue.
    2 Piet de Boer was an Amsterdam dealer who was a close contact of Hofer, Posse, Lohse, Miedl and other Nazi art agents.  There is nothing in this painting's chain of ownership, however, to indicate any dubious World War II-era provenance, nor does the painting appear in any databases of Nazi-looted art or records pertaining to Nazi looting activities.
    3 Oppenheimer also consigned the painting to P. de Boer in 1984; however, it did not sell and remained in Oppenheimer's possession.
  • Buvelot, Quentin. The still lifes of Adriaen Coorte (active c.1683-1707): with oeuvre catalogue. The Hague: Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, 2008.
    Hilde de Boer-Venverloo, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, May 15, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.
    Hilde de Boer-Venverloo, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, May 15, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.
    Hilde de Boer-Venverloo, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, May 15, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.
    Hilde de Boer-Venverloo, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, May 15, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.
    Hilde de Boer-Venverloo, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, May 15, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.
    Hilde de Boer-Venverloo, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, May 15, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.
    Chong, Alan, W T. Kloek, and Celeste Brusati. Still-life Paintings from the Netherlands, 1550-1720. Zwolle: Waanders Publishers, 1999. Referenced: cat. no. 75, p. 277-278.
    Kloek, Wouter. "L'Age d'Or de la Nature Mortes Néerlandaise." L'Objet d'Art 337, no. 3 (June 1999): 28-40. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 30-31
    Wilmerding, John. Signs of the Artist: Signatures and Self-Expression in American Paintings. New Haven, CT: B Yale University Press, 2003. Reproduced: p. 22, fig. 18
    Sander, Jochen. The Magic of Things: Still-Life Painting, 1500-1800. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2008. Mentioned: p. 340; Reproduced: p. 347, fig. 76
    Grennan, Eamon. Matter of Fact. Saint Paul, Minn: Graywolf Press, 2008. Reproduced: cover
    Smith, Jeanette M. “Gooseberries on a Table.” JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association 310, no. 10 (September 11, 2013): 1008-1009. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 1008-1009
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 192
    Van Niekerk, Marlene. Gesant van die mispels: gedigte by skilderye van Adriaen Coorte ca. 1659-1707. 2017. Reproduced: p. 14 & 60, no. 3
  • Small Wonders: Dutch Still Lifes by Adriaen Coorte. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (June 29-September 28, 2003).
    Still-Life Paintings from the Netherlands, 1550-1720. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (June 19-September 19, 1999); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 31, 1999-January 9, 2000).
    The Year in Review for 1987. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-April 17, 1988).
  • {{cite web|title=Gooseberries on a Table|url=false|author=Adriaen Coorte|year=1701|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1987.32