Lot 366: Gabriel Germain Joncherie , Active in Paris 1829 - 1844 Still life of eggs cooking on a stove oil on canvas

oil on canvas

measurements note 17 7/8 by 14 5/8 in.; 45.5 by 37.2 cm.

Few biographical details are known about Joncherie. He was active in Paris and exhibited as a painter of still lifes, interiors and genre scenes at the Paris Salon between 1831-1844. He lived in the rue de l'Echiquier and his son Hector-François, who was born in 1824, studied under him. The present picture continues a tradition of still-life painting established by Chardin, which was carried on by artists such as Phillipe Rousseau, François Bonvin, Thedore Ribot and Antoine Vollon. This painting may be compared to a group of still life paintings of the 1830s and 40s that feature the same motif of eggs cooking on a stove in a blue and white terracotta bowl of similar proportions. A similar painting was recently sold at Christie's, London on November 16, 2006, lot 68, and a variant of it is in a Dutch private collection.υ1 The present painting, however, adds a new element to the composition, a tray of apples ready for baking. The handling of paint, across the white highlights especially, shows a brilliant hand that seems to exceed the artistic skill displayed in even the signed and dated pictures. 1 See R. Leeuw, "Phillippe Rousseau," in Van Gogh Museum Journal, 1995, reproduced fig. 7.