RKD STUDIES

The Elector had a distinct and unusual preference for still-life. The portrait painter Broder Matthisen (died 1666) painted two still-lifes (now in Schwerin and Dresden) [1-2] during his stay in Berlin. He was appointed court painter in 1659, followed by a confirmation in 1665. However, he appears to have lived in Husum from 1661 on, where he died in 1666.¹ A still-life by Pieter Nason, which very probably derives from the collection of the Great Elector, ended up in the museum in Berlin, together with other possessions of the Hohenzollern [3].²

The well-travelled artist Franz de Hamilton (before 1640-after 1702) was in the service of the Elector in Cleves in 1661 and until 1671 in Potsdam [4-5].³ Willem Frederiksz. van Royen (c. 1645-1723) brought Hondecoeter’s style to Germany; he also copied Jan Weenix (f.e. Braunschweig, no. 443, dated 1706) [6].⁴ First, that is from 1669-1689, he was employed in Potsdam, then moved to Berlin and became professor and director of the academy. Several of his works are still preserved in the Prussian castles [7-8].⁵ He was not only required to paint ordinary still-lifes, but in particular to record the unusual, abnormal, such as for example in a painting in Potsdam [9], where lemons and oranges grow next to each other on the same branch, which could be marvelled at in the pleasure garden in ‘Cölln an der Spree’!⁶

3
Pieter Nason
Still-life with a goblet and oysters on a table, c. 1666
Berlin (city, Germany), Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, inv./cat.nr. 977

A year later, in 1670, Henri de Fromantiou (c. 1633/4-after 1693)⁷ who was called to Berlin, immediately managed to obtain a position of trust. First he became inspector of the collection of paintings, later he repeatedly made trips to purchase paintings. In 1682 he attended the auction of the estate of Sir Peter Lely in London and in 1684 he went to Amsterdam for business on behalf of his employer. Furthermore he traded paintings that were sent to him from the Netherlands on his own account. The Elector greatly valued his judgment, as appears from the lawsuit with the art dealer Gerrit Uylenburgh who evidently tried to sell inferior Italian paintings to the Berlin court for good money.⁸ Fromantiou went to Holland to advocate the interests of his Lord. After the death of the Great Elector Fromantiou’s position as court painter was ratified by his successor Friedrich III (the later King Friedrich I of Prussia). Not many of his works can be found in the Prussian castles [10-11].⁹ Maybe he was too much preoccupied with other activities, such as the restoration of paintings.

10
Henri de Fromantiou
Hunting still-life with dead partridge in a niche, dated 1666
Grunewald (Berlin), Jagdschloss Grunewald

At the same time as Fromantiou the still-life painter Ottomar Elliger I came to Berlin. The Elector brought him from Hamburg, because -- as Houbraken recounts¹⁰ -- Elliger painted so well in the manner of his teacher Daniël Seghers (1590-1661), whose still-lifes were greatly admired by the Great Elector. In 1646 the Elector saw a flower piece by Seghers in The Hague presented by the Jezuits in Antwerp. He admired it so much, that he informed the Jezuits he would like to acquire a similar painting.¹¹ The next year the artist sent him The Virgin Mary in a flower wreath [12-14]. The Elector thanked him in a personal letter and added some relics from the cathedral in Berlin!¹² Elliger worked in Berlin until his death and the flower garlands around portraits as well as other flower and fruit pieces in the manner of Seghers are not uncommon here [15-16].¹³ Elliger the Younger (1666-1732) learned from his father in Berlin, but returned to Holland to work later again at the southern German courts and for the Tsar.¹⁴

Small hunting still-lifes with dead birds like those of Fromantiou belong to a genre that was loved and sought after by all European courts. In England it was William Gowe Ferguson (1632-in or after 1695), in Tuscany Willem van Aelst (1627-1683), in Düsseldorf Jan Weenix (1642-1719), who also painted large pieces, and in Vienna the more Flemish working Hamiltons. Melchior d’Hondecoeter’s (1636-1695) decorative art was carried into the world by many pupils. But in even greater measure the late Dutch flower piece dispersed over the whole of Europe. Even the frugal Friedrich II owned some paintings of Jan van Huijsum (1682-1749) [17]¹⁵ and the King had sent over some flower pieces Pieter Hardimé (1677-1748) painted at Honselaarsdijk Castle.¹⁶

Ottomar Elliger (I)
Portrait of Electress Dorothea of Brandenburg- née von Holstein Glücksburg (1636-1689) in a garland of fruit and flowers, c. 1670-1675
Potsdam, Bildergalerie am Schloss Sanssouci, inv./cat.nr. GK I 5284

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Ottomar Elliger (I)
Flowers and fruit pieces and a view of a garden, after 1669
Potsdam, Marmorpalais

At the time of the Great Elector Adriaen van der Spelt (c. 1630-1673) worked in Berlin, who worthily stood by Elliger’s side [18].¹⁷ Also paintings from Willem Kalf, Jurriaen van Streek, Otto Marseus von Schrieck [19-20] and Jan Weenix [21] (if these indeed stem from the collection of the Great Elector, which cannot be proven) are found in the royal castles in Berlin, which demonstrate that his taste was not directed to the decorative and rare alone. Two still-lifes of Pieter van den Bosch must have ended up in his possession before 1670, since the Amsterdam dealer Johannes de Renialme alludes to these when he offers two other paintings of the same artists.¹⁸ The local animal painter Peter Caulitz (1650-1719) [22] connected more to Flemish painters and to Carl Borromäus Andreas Ruthart (1630-1703).¹⁹