Lot 214: ANNE VALLAYER-COSTER

PEACHES, A MELON AND GRAPES ON A STONE LEDGE
signed and dated lower left, on the ledge: M.υelle Vallayer. / 1772.

21 1/4 by 25 1/2 in.; 54 by 64.8 cm.

oil on canvas, oval

Paris, Salon, 1773, no. 141, with its pendant ("Un Panier de Raisins. Un Panier de Pêches. Tableaux ovales, de 2 pieds de large, sur 1 pied 8 pouces de haut.");
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, June 30 - September 22, 2002; Dallas, Dallas Museum of Art, October 13, 2002 - January 5, 2003; New York, The Frick Collection, January 21 - March 23, 2003, Anne Vallayer-Coster. Painter to the Court of Marie-Antoinette, no. 16.

M. Roland Michel, Anne Vallayer-Coster, 1744-1818, Paris 1970, nos. 133, 134;
E. Kahng and M. Roland Michel, Anne Vallayer-Coster. Painter to the Court of Marie-Antoinette, exhibition catalogue, Dallas 2002, p. 199, cat. no. 16, reproduced in color fig. 9.

Mr. Cournerie;
His sale, Paris, December 8-9, 1891, lot 24.

Anne Vallayer-Coster's s highly successful and prolific career survived the French Revolution, despite her close ties with Marie-Antoinette and the Royal family. She is thought to have studied with the great landscape painter Claude Joseph Vernet who advocated working directly from nature. In addition to landscapes and marine paintings, he painted individual plants and floral compositions, which greatly influenced Vallayer's subsequent works. In 1770, Vallayer-Coster became a member of the Royal Academy. She was the only woman to be accepted during this period without having been the wife or daughter of an academician, and without official support from the Royal family.

She subsequently exhibited works at all the Paris Salons from 1771 to 1789. The present still life was shown at the 1773 Salon, along with its pendant, Basket of grapes, apples, and partridge (canvas, oval; signed and dated 1772; Paris, Musée Nissim de Camondo). The influence of Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin is evident. In 1770, Chardin was already a celebrated painter and was recognized among his contemporaries as the artist who reinvented French still life painting, elevating its status and distinguishing it from its Dutch and Flemish precedents. The bold brushstrokes and soft outlines which give this painting its velvet-like appearance are direct reminders of Chardin's unique style. Vallayer-Coster's handling of the fruit in this painting appears free and impressionistic, while at a distance the fruit appears sharply focused. In this way, Vallayer-Coster's still lives differ greatly from her paintings of flowers, with their enamel-like surface, inspired by the Flemish school of Frans Snyders (1579-1657). The tints of orange on the vine leaves at far right and over the cream colored impasto on the peaches are another reminder of Chardin's influence. The fruit, set against a dark and atmospheric background, stands out with small touches of color and highlights of white and cream, providing a varied and balanced focus for the eye.

Anne Vallayer-Coster painted many still lifes similar to the present painting, but the closest painting, from the point of view of the subject matter and the composition, is a rectangular Still life with Peaches and Grapes, painted circa 1779 (Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada).