SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Roelant Savery, a painter and engraver, was born in Kortrijk in 1576 and died in Utrecht in 1639. He trained with his elder brother Jacob Savery and Hans Bol. Around 1604, he travelled to Prague, where he became court painter to Emperor Rudolf II. After Rudolf II’s death, he entered the service of his successor Matthias as a chamber painter and accompanied him to Vienna, Salzburg, Munich and Brixen, among other places. Between 1606 and 1608, he stayed in Tyrol to study plants and mountain landscapes in the field.
Savery was in Haarlem in 1618 and then in Utrecht in 1619, where he joined the Guild of Saint Luke the following year. In 1621, he acquired a large house in the Boterstraat, with a garden planted with flowers and other plants; painters such as Adam Willaerts frequently visited him. His repertoire includes animals as varied as pelicans, ostriches, camels and the dodo. In 1626, the city commissioned him to paint a picture for Amalia van Solms, Princess of Orange, depicting “all the beasts of the air and the earth”; he received 700 florins for the work. He made several depictions of the dodo between 1611 and 1628. A painting from 1626, now known as Edwards’s Dodo, is held at the Natural History Museum in London.
Floral subjects form another part of his oeuvre: he painted bouquets arranged in stone niches, which sources note have a slight Mannerist tendency. The Liechtenstein Bouquet, dated 1612, is held at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna. Among the works dated 1626 is also Bison Attacked by Dogs.
This profile brings together identity references for Roelant Savery and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
Lempertz
References include catalogue entries and available results; they do not all represent completed sales. Attributed works and special lots are excluded from the priced results.
Oil on wood
Landschaft mit Elias, von den Raben versorgt
Öl auf Holz
Auction date : 2023-11-18
Published result : 40320 EUR
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : 18000
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Oil on wood
Waldlandschaft mit Hirschen und einem Rind
Öl auf Holz
Auction date : 2022-11-19
Published result : 11970 EUR
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : 10000
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Oil on canvas
Landschaft mit Rundturm und Bogenbrücke, im Vordergrund Wasser- und Wattvögel
Öl auf Leinwand
Auction date : 2018-11-17
Published result : 322400 EUR
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : 180000
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Oil on wood
Rinder vor antiken Ruinengewölben
Öl auf Holz
Auction date : 2017-05-20
Published result : 34720 EUR
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : 30000
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Oil on wood
Gebirgslandschaft mit Storch und Hirschen bei einem Wasserfall
Öl auf Holz
Auction date : 2017-05-20
Published result : 86800 EUR
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : 30000
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
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