SOREAU, Isaak
German painter. He was the son of Daniel Soreau, a wool merchant from Antwerp who emigrated to Frankfurt and later Hanau, and who is recorded by Sandrart as having taken up painting, although no work survives of him. Isaak’s twin brother Peter Soreau was also a still-life painter, but his few known works are more properly regarded as of the Hanau School, being influenced by Georg Flegel.
Very few works by Isaak are signed. Isaak’s entire secure oeuvre is close in style to Jacob van Hulsdonck, and although there is no documentary record of him there, he must have spent some time in Antwerp, probably in the studio of Jacob van Hulsdonck. Many of his works are composed of motifs found in Hulsdonck’s work.
Although only three works by Soreau are dated, some idea of chronology can be reached. Both works dated 1638 are very close to Hulsdonck in style and composition, while the still-life of fruit from 1645 is much less Flemish and has more in common with the Hanau School, and the few works of his brother Peter.
