Tobias stranover biography of abraham
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1.4 Dresden
Dresden was not only the city with the largest collection of Dutch art, but also the centre of contemporary artistic life, for which the Saxon kings August II (the Strong, 1670-1733) and August III (1696-1763), and scholars like Christian Ludwig von Hagedorn (1712-1780) and collectors like Heinrich Count von Brühl (1700-1763) were protectors. All cultural circles maintained close relations with French collectors and artists and especially the German Johann Georg Wille (1715-1808) in Paris engaged himself to be of service to his colleagues in Dresden.1 Wille was connected with the collector Gottfried Winckler (1731-1795) in Leipzig by a close friendship that transcended their commercial interests.
Most striking is the tradition of 17th-century still-life painting. The Leipzig painter Gottfried Valentin (1661-1711)2 made still-lifes in the manner of Willem van Aelst and William Gowe Ferguson [1-2].3 In Dresden it was Tobias Stranover (1684-1756) from Siebenbü
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Tobias Stranover (Sibiu 1684-circa 1731 London)
A scarlet macaw and a cockatoo with a basket of fruit in a wooded landscape with a monkey beside peaches, melons and grapes
oil on canvas
110 x 169.8cm (43 5/16 x 66 7/8in).
Footnotes
Provenance
In the present owner's family since the early 20th century
The present still life formed part of a distinguished collection which included the pair of beautiful depictions of Swans in landscapes by Abraham Bisschop and the pair of Still lifes by Johann Amandus Winck which were sold in these rooms (10 December 1996, lot 63; and 3 July 2013, lot 47).
In their vibrant exuberance the works of Tobias Stranover and Jakob Bogdani stand above those of other animal and still life painters working in Britain at this date. Born in the northern foothills of the Transylvanian Alps in what is now Romania, Stranover was taught by Bogdani, whose daughter, Elizabeth, he married. Stranover began as an itinerant artist, visiting Hamburg a
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2.6 Still life painters
This is not the first time we mention Dutch still life painters in England. Charles I had a still life bygd Johannes Torrentius (1588-1644) (now in Amsterdam) and the marine painter Tobias Flessiers (1610-1689) must also have been active in this field.1Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678) was one of the first artists to paint trompe l’oeils in England and we know of a fruit still life in the manner of Barend van der Meer painted bygd the ‘Rembrandt pupil’ Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723) [1].2 And did not Nathaniel Bacon (1585-1627) paint kitchen still lifes in the manner of the earlier painters from Delft?3 According to Arnold Houbraken, Otto Marseus van Schrieck (1619/20-1678) must have been in England, although there are no other sources to confirm this.4 A Pieter van den Bosch (1612/3- after 1663) fryst vatten mentioned as being in London in 1663. However, since it is not certain whether this artist is identical with the painter of still lifes from universitet we w