Lot 221: LOUIS MARIE DE SCHRYVER

LOUIS MARIE DE SCHRYVER 1862 - 1942 THE FLOWER SELLER signed de Schryver and dated 1887 (upper left) oil on canvas 53 by 65 in.; 134.6 by 165.1 cm.

Louis Marie de Schryver was born into a prominent Parisian family with strong ties to the literary and artistic circles of the city. De Schryver's father was a man of letters and a connoisseur of fine art, and enjoyed friendships with several distinguished artists, including Jean Jacques Henner, Rosa Bonheur and Philippe Rousseau. Through his passion for art and his artistic connections he encouraged his son to pursue a career as a painter.

A precocious child, de Schryver exhibited his first painting at the age of thirteen in the Salon des Champs-Elysées, an early beginning to what was to become a long and distinguished career. As a member of the privileged upper class, from which he would often use his family connections and friends as models for his pictures, de Schryver innately understood the spirit of the Belle Époque and the concerns of fashionable society. He developed a special interest in the proliferation of flower vendors in Paris and chose them as the central subject of his oeuvre. Their daily presence on the boulevards reflected the unquenchable desire of Parisians for beauty, colour and scent. The bounteous and varied blossoms offered by the flower vendors appropriately mirrored the beauty and costumes of the ladies of fashion whose salons and boudoirs de Schryver's paintings surely graced.

In the present work, de Schryver's flower seller is virtually engulfed by her impressive offering of domestic and exotic flowers. From the delicate azaleas, to the brilliant orchids, to the simple daisies, to the lush roses - each blossom's vibrant petals betray a distinct personality, demonstrating de Schryver's consummate skill as a painter.