A Still Life of Flowers and an Urn with a Bird's nest

WILLEM VAN LEEN

1753 - 1825

Dutch School

A Still Life of Flowers and an Urn with a Bird’s nest 

Oil on canvas, Signed 

32 ½ x 24 ½ inches

82.5 x 62.2 cms

Willem van Leen was one of the many excellent Dutchmen whose style was enriched through working for long periods in Paris. Van Leen visited Paris for the first time at the age of twenty and became friendly with Gerard van Spaebdibck who had established himself there already.

Van Leen worked in Holland and Paris but left the French capital at the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789. However, by 1808 he was again visiting Paris. He is also recorded as having been an art dealer and is said to have decorated French snuff-boxes with flowers.

The artist's work is distinguished by a softness of touch, quite different from the precision of his friend Spaebdibck. His work appears at its best on canvas, which were always very decorative. He often used the motif of a fancy blue urn in his compositions.

Museums where examples of the artist's work can be found include the Metropolitan in New York and the Boymans Museum in Rotterdam.