General Van der Meulen's known oeuvre consists of a limited number of works, most of which were created during his stay in Sweden and are kept in Swedish museums and collections. Most of these works are still lifes. The subjects of his still life paintings are ''
trompe-l'œil'',
vanitas, flower pieces and game pieces. He also created a topographical view of Stockholm. Cornelis van der Meulen further developed quod-libet still‐lifes in Sweden. The
''Trompe-l'œil still life of a letter rack (Stockholm, Royal Collections Sweden) may be identical with the work referred to as The little letter'', which is mentioned in the Royal Stockholm Paintings Office's minutes from 1679. Cornelis van der Meulen's earliest completed painting in Sweden is likely the painting referred to as
The Little Letter, which is mentioned in the Stockholm Paintings Office's minutes in the year 1679. It is a quod-libet composition of a traditional kind in which a collection of letters, drawings and cutlery is scattered over a board wall. The painting can be regarded as an intellectual self‐portrait, as it shows letters addressed to the artist together with implements from the artist's trade such as a quill pen, a print, a burin etc. While most of these symbols reference the transience of life and death (soap bubbles, candles, skulls) and human pursuits (scientific instruments, music, books, etc.), some carry a dual meaning: a rose refers as much to the brevity of living things as it is a symbol of the resurrection of Christ and thus eternal life. A typical vanitas still life by van der Meulen is the
Vanitas still life with a skull, a guttering candle, a tortoiseshell mirror, a book, a statuette of saint Susanna, and a pack of cards (Sotheby's sale of 10 May 2019, London, lot 287). It contains many of the typical symbols of vanitas paintings. The statue of
Saint Susanna, a Christian martyr, symbolises the Christian conviction that it is possible to find salvation in death through the force of a steadfast faith in Christ's. Two extraordinary vanitas still lifes are the portraits of
Ulrik and
Gustav both princes of Sweden and sons of King Karl XI, who had died as toddlers. The portraits of the two princes are in the form of bust sculptures, which were derived from the posthumous marble portrait busts of the princes made by the Flemish sculptor
Nicolaes Millich. Millich had made the busts for the princes' grandmother, the queen dowager
Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp. The queen dowager appreciated these sculpted portrait busts of her deceased grandsons Gustav and Ulrik. Van der Meulen incorporated them using a ''trompe-l'œil'' effect into the two vanitas still life paintings which were then hung in their grandmother's prayer room. Van der Meulen has added vanitas symbols to the bust portraits (books, a skull with laurel leaves, a seashell, a broken rose and a soap bubble). The busts of the princes also resemble Roman busts of child emperors and thus refer back to the royal lineage and authority of the children. This is further emphasized in the portrait of Gustav which has a Swedish flag with the royal crowns as its backdrop. The contemporary fame of van der Meulen as a vanitas painter seems to be confirmed by the fact that the Delft painter
Johannes Vermeer is believed to have used a vanitas still life with a violin by van der Meulen's hand in the background of his
A Lady Writing a Letter. ''
View of Stockholm An outlier in van der Meulen's oeuvre is the
panoramic view of Stockholm (c. 1690,
Stockholm City Museum). It is likely that he used a
camera obscura in the production of the painting. ==References==