Nicola van Houbraken
Nicola or Nicolino or Niccolino van Houbraken, also known as Nicolino Vanderbrach da Messina and Nicola Messinese[1] (1660 – 1723) was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque who was of Flemish descent. He specialized in paintings depicting playful arrangements of fruits, vegetables, vegetation, animals, game in interiors or in forests.[2] He also painted allegories and garland paintings.[3][4] His work was appreciated by the Medici court in Florence.[5]
Work[edit]
General[edit]
He specialized in paintings depicting playful arrangements of fruits, vegetables, vegetation, animals and game set in interiors and forests.[2] He also painted garland paintings and allegorical scenes.[3][4] His forest still lifes continue the tradition of the works of Otto Marseus van Schrieck, who was one of the first practitioners of this genre. As van Houbraken only rarely put his monogram on his paintings, it has been a difficult task to put together his oeuvre as we well as to confirm the chronology. It is assumed that his darker paintings with the most obvious symbolic connotations were creations from his early career.[5]
