Anne VALLAYER-COSTER (Paris 1744 - 1818) Flowers... Lot 16

Anne VALLAYER-COSTER (Paris 1744 - 1818) Flowers in a blue vase Flowers in a crystal vase Pair of oval canvases. 49 x 40 cm Signed and dated lower right Mlle Vallayer / 1776. Restorations. In their original frames stamped A. LEVERD. Provenance : Etienne Lévy; Chez Cailleux, Paris, 1988; Maurice Segoura, Paris, 1989; Collection of Monsieur D. Bibliography : M. Roland Michel, Anne Vallayer Coster, Paris, 1970, p. 104, no. 6 and p. 115, no. 25, reproduced on p. 44 and 145; M. and F. Faré, La Vie Silencieuse en France. La nature morte au XVIIIe siècle, Fribourg and Paris, 1976, p. 227, reproduced figs. 347 and 348; Exhibition catalog Anne Vallayer-Coster. Peintre à la cour de Marie-Antoinette, Marseille, Musée des Beaux-Arts, 2003, pp. 208-209, nos. 38 and 39, reproduced; S. Mouquin and Ch. Huchet de Quénetain "D'albâtre, de cristal et de porcelaine : Anne Vallayer-Coster, peintre de vases", forthcoming, p.15. "Madame Vallayer-Coster, famous painter of flowers" is how the artist is presented in the catalog of her after-death sale. A major painter of 18th-century still lifes, Anne Vallayer-Coster demonstrated an exceptional talent for painting from an early age. She was probably trained by Madeleine Basseporte, the famous flower painter in the service of King Louis XV, and by Joseph Vernet. At just 26, Vallayer-Coster was admitted to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, a remarkable feat for a woman of that era. Her talent attracted the attention of the royal court, in particular Queen Marie Antoinette, who became a patron and fervent admirer of her work. Thanks to this important support, Vallayer-Coster became one of the most prominent artists of her time. Although Vallayer-Coster dabbled in a variety of genres, she specialized above all in still-life painting. Her works were renowned for their meticulous detail, vividness and realism. Floral compositions were among her favorite subjects, depicted with astonishing precision and fidelity. Her ability to capture delicacy, texture, color and light of flowers set her apart from her contemporaries. Here, Vallayer-Coster has depicted a bouquet of flowers with snowballs and a rose in a blue porcelain vase edged and plinthed in gilded bronze, as well as a bouquet dominated by roses in a silver-rimmed round glass vase, set on a stone entablature identical to the first painting. Interestingly, a bouquet of flowers in a blue vase is paired with a bouquet in a glass vase. In the former, the vase recalls the color of the blue flowers, while at the same time contrasting with the two immaculate white snowballs. Most of the vases represented in her work are in ceramic, always monochrome and in a variety of shapes. The artist favors contrasts with blue, so much so that blue porcelain vases appear in many of her paintings. The blue enhances the light-colored flowers and complements the green of the leaves. The gilded border and base reinforce the contrasting colors, making the object even more precious. the object even more precious. The glass vase, on the other hand, plays with transparency, revealing the stems and highlighting the pale colors of the roses. Here, the gold border of the first painting is contrasted with a silver border. After hard stones, crystal vases are among Anne Vallayer Coster's most frequently used receptacles, appearing in over twenty of her works. In these works, she plays on the light effects and reflections made possible by the transparency of crystal. In most cases, she prefers to combine crystal with gilded bronze, unlike our painting. We can compare these pendants with another pair also associating a blue vase with a glass vase from the Denise Boas collection (see exhibition catalog Anne Vallayer-Coster. Peintre à la cour de Marie-Antoinette, opus cite supra, p. 211, reproductions no. 51 and 52). Both frames were made by the sculptor Leverd, who specialized in the production of oval frames. He died the same year as the two paintings, so it is likely that Anne Vallayer-Coster bought them from his workshop.