26 - "Still Life with a Basket of Flowers and Dead Game Birds," Anonymous

"Still Life with a Basket of Flowers and Dead Game Birds," Anonymous Oil on canvas, with relining. Against a dark background on the left, a shallow basket containing roses, tulips, carnations, and small white flowers; in front of it, on the base, a few scattered flowers. On the right, a group of birds hanging upside down by strings; beneath them, two feathers floating down. Forms in the upper left portion of the painting cannot be identified. The edges of the original canvas are brittle. The paint layer exhibits a net-like age-related craquelure across the entire picture surface, with a fine mesh pattern in the dark background. A reddish-brown ground layer is visible within the cracks. Gaping, darkly defined cracks in the paint layer in the area of the light-colored flowers of the basket in the left-center ground plane. The varnish is glossy and applied unevenly. Retouching and overpainting that appear dark under UV light are present in all four quadrants — in the upper left quadrant, in brushstrokes and patches on the ground layer; in the upper right quadrant, on the ground layer above and between the group of birds; in the lower part of the painting to the right of center, clustered in dots; and sporadically along the left edge of the painting. Frame with losses of material on the profile and decorative moldings; miter joint at the upper right corner open; crack in the groove. Painting dimensions 57.5 × 88.3 cm, frame dimensions 72 × 103.5 cm Condition: III