Peter A. Kotka, Still Life with Bottle of 1997 Chateau Belgrave Haut-Medoc, Grand Cru Classe, Glass and Cheese
Circa 1997-2000

A cellar-dusted bottle of 1997 Chateau Belgrave, a half-filled glass of ruby Bordeaux, a handful of dark grapes, a round of soft French cheese in its wooden box and the freshly pulled cork: British painter Peter A. Kotka (born 1951) has set the whole ritual of opening a good bottle on a worn wooden ledge and lit it like a seventeenth-century Dutch master. Painted in oils on a linen panel in the trompe l'oeil manner, the picture is all about light: the way it dulls on the bloomed green glass, glints off the gold foil capsule, glows through the wine and settles on the crisp cream label with its little engraved view of the chateau. The cork, stained purple at one end and lettered "Grand Cru Classe" and "Haut-Medoc," lies where it was dropped. The background slips from deep shadow at the left to a softly lit wall at the right, so the objects seem to sit in a real alcove you could reach into.

Kotka, entirely self-taught, turned professional in 1983 and from the mid-1990s reinvented himself as a modern Dutch master, studying Willem Kalf and de Heem and adopting their toned grounds and layered glazes. His wine, fruit and cheese still lifes have a devoted following on both sides of the Atlantic, and he is listed in Artists in Britain since 1945, the standard dictionary of postwar British artists. Chateau Belgrave itself is a Fifth Growth of the 1855 Bordeaux classification, which is what the "Grand Cru Classe" on the label means.

This is a picture made for a dining room, a wine room or a bar, and at this scale it works equally well as a single hung over a sideboard, a drinks trolley or a butler's tray, or as the anchor of a small gallery wall of kitchen and table subjects. It would be entirely at home in a traditional paneled interior and just as good as a warm, old-master note in a modern kitchen or a wine cellar tasting corner. Signed "Peter Kotka" at lower right and presented in a distressed cream-painted frame with gilt inner and outer edges that sits easily with both antique and contemporary furnishings.

Dimensions (framed)
Height: 18 inches (45.7 cm)
Width: 16 inches (40.6 cm)
Depth: 1 inch (2.5 cm)

Provenance
The Unicorn Gallery, United Kingdom
Private collection, New York
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge

Condition
Good condition.

Ref: VM98521


Condition:
Alterations: Original Condition Unaltered
Imperfections: Some Imperfections
Condition Notes: Good condition

Origin:
United Kingdom

Materials & Techniques:
Paint

Details:
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
What type of item is it? Vintage / Antique / Used
Frame Type: Framed
Art Subjects: Still Life

Original Condition Unaltered; Some Imperfections; Good condition