NEW YORK, NY.- Mathias Withoos (1627–1703) was a Dutch painter known for his richly detailed still lifes, often overflowing with exotic plants, insects, and small creatures. Born in Amersfoort, he studied under Jacob van Campen before joining the Bentvueghels, a lively group of Dutch artists who made a name for themselves in Italy.

Withoos had a particular gift for painting sottobosco — lush, forest floor scenes teeming with life. His works, often a little eerie or mysterious, blended scientific curiosity with Baroque drama — a perfect match for King Charles’s return to the throne after a decade of the Commonwealth and the era’s fascination with the strange and wonderful sides of nature. Collectors with a taste for rarities, curiosities, and the exotic — like King Charles II of England — would have found his style appealing.

During the Restoration (after 1660), Charles II’s taste in painting was shaped by his years of exile in France and the Dutch Republic. He absorbed the best of continental art — the realism and fine detail of the Dutch and Flemish masters, the grand classical works of the Italians — and mixed them into a style that blended sophistication with an eager curiosity about the natural world.

Thanks to his keen interest in natural history (and perhaps some smart advisors), paintings like Withoos’s weren’t just decoration — they were conversation starters. They fit into a court culture that prized learning, collecting, and, of course, showing off a bit.

At least two paintings by Mathias Withoos made their way into Charles II’s collection in the 1660s, recorded in the royal inventories. One of them was described as "a landscape wherein are thistles, & flowers, an otter, and two fishes" — believed to be our painting illustrated here.

The scene — an otter, victorious over two dead fish — might not just have been admired for its realism. In a court where symbolism mattered, it could have been read as a political allegory: a metaphor for power, dominance, or even the monarchy devouring the remnants of rebellion. (A bit of a stretch, maybe, but exactly the kind of layered meaning that Restoration audiences loved.)

Mathias Withoos wasn’t a court painter or a figure in high political circles, so it's unlikely Charles II ever met him personally. But thanks to his association with the Bentvueghels and his growing reputation, Withoos had enough international recognition to catch the eye of collectors across Europe. The fact that his name appears in royal inventories suggests he was considered fashionable — and intellectually interesting enough for Charles’s eclectic and ambitious collection. Even if Withoos and Charles II never met, their worlds seemed to have matched perfectly in the fantastic details of a painting like this one.

To view Lawrence Steigrad Fine Arts' current inventory please visit www.steigrad.com