ELIAS VAN DEN BROECK (DUTCH 1650-1708)A POPPY, TULIP, CHRYSANTHEMUM, MORNING GLORY, ROSES AND OTHER FLOWERS IN A VASE, ON A STONE LEDGEOil on canvas Signed (lower centre)78.2 x 64.2cm (30¾ x 25¼ in.)Provenance:Douwes, Amsterdam, where acquired in 1963 byMrs. Maria van EsSale, Christie's, Amsterdam, June 23 2015, lot 43Private collection, Blaisdon Hall, GloucestershireFred Meijer of the RKD, The Hague has dated the present still life to the late period of Van den Broeck's career.Elias van den Broeck was born in Antwerp but soon moved to Amsterdam to become an apprentice of Cornelis Kick. After training in Amsterdam for four years, he became a pupil of Jan Davidsz. De Heem in Utrecht in 1669, one of the greatest Dutch still life painters of his time. Van den Broeck is recorded back in Antwerp in 1673, where he became master in the Guild of St. Luke and where he married in 1677 and had three children. He would return to Amsterdam in 1685 and remained there until his death in 1708. Van den Broeck's oeuvre is undoubtedly influenced by that of De Heem. Both of their still lives, whether of flowers or forest floors, are particularly celebrated for their meticulous attention to detail. This work similarly combines a brilliance and harmony of colour with an accurate rending of the subject matter, be it the flowers in all their variety, the snail on the left, or even the smallest drops of water. In his artists biography, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718), Arnold Houbraken mentions that Van den Broeck even kept a garden outside his house in Amsterdam purely for his studio needs. Van den Broeck's works are widely collected and part of renowned museum collections such as the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and Boijmans- Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.