WILLEM VAN LEEN (DUTCH 1753 - 1825) STILL LIFE OF FLOWERS IN A BASKET

Description: WILLEM VAN LEEN (DUTCH 1753 - 1825) STILL LIFE OF FLOWERS IN A BASKET Signed and dated 1794, oil on canvas, oval (Dimensions: 51cm x 39cm (20in x 15.25in))

Provenance: Biography: Willem van Leen (19 February 1753- 6 April 1825) was a Dutch painter who specialised in flower paintings, best known for his decorative work for mantelpieces and overdoors. After training with his father Jan van Leen as a child in his hometown of Dordrecht, Willem travelled to Paris at the age of twenty, where he studied flower painting for three years. From this point, van Leen split his time working between Holland and Paris, receiving important commissions such as designing wall decorations in the Pavlovsk Palace in St. Petersburg for the Grand Duchess of Russia. Van Leen settled in Delfshaven in the Netherlands from 1806, where he worked as a councilor from 1811 until his death in 1825. His work is notable for its delicateness and elegance, which set him apart from the precision of his contemporaries. Highly collectable, pieces by van Leen can be found in important international collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Dimensions: 51cm x 39cm (20in x 15.25in)