Catarina Ykens (1659–after 1737), Vanitas bust of a lady with a crown of flowers on a ledge, 1688. Oil on panel, octogonal, 21 x 21 cm, signed and dated on the ledge: Catharina van ÿkens . filia Devota f. 1688. Prívate Collection. © Sotheby's 2017

Provenance: Anonymous sale, Antwerp, Bernaerts, 21 October 1996, lot 100.

Exhibited: Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten and Arnhem, Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Elck zijn waerom. Vrouwelijke kunstenaars in België en Nederland 1500–1950, 17 October 1999 – 6 April 2000.

Literature: K. Van der Stighelen, M. Westen et al., Elck zijn waerom. Vrouwelijke kunstenaars in België en Nederland 1500–1950, exh. cat., Antwerp 1999, p. 193, reproduced p. 195, fig. 70;

F.G. Meijer and A. van der Willigen, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish still-life painters working in oils, 1525–1725, Leiden 2003, p. 223.

Note: There were almost certainly two still-life painters called Catharina Ykens: one (fl. 1635– after 1666), the wife of the artist Frans Ykens, the other, the author of this work, the daughter of Jan Ykens. The present artist was most probably taught by her father, and in 1688 she was accepted by the local Antwerp guild – an annotation describes her as both a nun and a painter.1

1. See Meijer and Willigen 2003, p. 223.