signed ‘P. van Loo’
graphite, pen and brown ink, point of the brush and watercolour
34 x 28.7 cm

Pieter van Loo was born in Haarlem and lived and work in that city his entire life. Very little biographical documents about the artist’s life appear to have survived, but it is known that Van Loo was registered in the Haarlem painter’s guild in 1763. Van Loo worked in the important wallpaper factory of J.H. Troost van Groenendoelen and besides he was a prolific draughtsman producing topographical drawing and, most importantly, flower still-lifes. The present drawing, signed at lower right, is a characteristic example of his still-life drawings and stands out for its quality as well as its size. The sheet can stylistically be compared, for example, to a drawing in the Albertina, Vienna , also showing a large bouquet in a nice, and a drawing which was previously with John Mitchell & Son, London.