Marjolein van den Berg – Still life with roemer and small chest (archaeological find), acrylic on canvas, c. 2011

Still life with a roemer and a small casket (excavated find) – Marjolein van den Berg

A still life with a green roemer, a decorated casket – an excavated find from Amsterdam – and a pale jug lying on its side on a white cloth, in the dark tonality of a 17th-century breakfast piece. Painted in acrylic on canvas by Marjolein van den Berg, c. 2011, as part of her series of still lifes with pewter and archaeological finds.

Marjolein van den Berg (Ursem, 1971) trained at the Tekenacademie and the Grafische school in Amsterdam (1987–1992) and then spent many years painting trompe-l’oeil murals and large panels in private homes, on walls and ceilings – painting that makes you feel you could walk straight through the wall. As a child she was already searching for ‘hidden treasure’, and she has kept doing so with a metal detector. Around 2011 she painted a series of still lifes with pewter and archaeological finds: her own finds, those of her detecting friends – many from spoil soil from historic town centres, including Amsterdam – and pieces from the collection of pewter dealer Jan Beekhuizen. The series was shown at his art and antiques gallery on the Nieuwe Spiegelstraat in Amsterdam, alongside the selling exhibition Pewter Ware 19. She works exclusively in acrylic; the colour palette and the remarkable fall of light, with the dark mood of the 17th-century masters, are characteristic of her work.

Why we chose this piece

De Huiszwaluw is run by Marjolein herself. After this series she moved to Boven-Leeuwen, where over the past nine years she has largely renovated the farmhouse and stable herself. Now there is room again for new work – a ceramics kiln is ready and there are ideas for new paintings – and so these still lifes are looking for a new home. They show what drives us: old objects with a story, looked at with love.

Style and interior

A contemporary realist still life in the tradition of the Dutch Golden Age. The work suits a classic or antique interior, but works just as well as a contrast in a calm, modern or rustic setting, and will appeal directly to collectors of antique pewter, archaeology and excavated finds.

Artist: Marjolein van den Berg (1971)
Technique: acrylic on canvas, in a black-painted wooden frame with a gold-coloured inner slip
Signature: signed ‘Marjolein’ on the front
Dimensions: 55.2 x 45.2 cm (w x h, including frame), depth 3.2 cm
Period: c. 2011
Origin: directly from the artist; series made for the exhibition at Jan Beekhuizen Kunst- en Antiekhandel, Amsterdam
Condition: Good condition. Paint layer intact: no craquelure, tears, paint loss or retouching visible; canvas taut. Frame with light signs of use (small scuffs along the edges). Small scuff on the black edge of the frame at top left (photo 5).

Marjolein signed her work either ‘Marjolein’ or ‘Bellezza’.

Price:

€ 1.095

The painting can be viewed by appointment in our own gallery in Boven-Leeuwen, the Netherlands.

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