PAUL LIÉGEOIS (ACTIVE IN PARIS BETWEEN 1630 AND... Lot 4

PAUL LIÉGEOIS (ACTIVE IN PARIS BETWEEN 1630 AND 1650) NATURE MORTE AUX RAISINS ET MELON Canvas 40 x 70 cm Paul Liegois, a French painter of Flemish origin, was active in Paris in the middle of the 17th century and is considered one of the painters who contributed to the still life craze in France. A country which until then particularly valued the so-called "noble" genres such as story paintings (defended by Charles Le Brun) or portraits. Until then, the painting of inanimate objects was considered a secondary genre, even though in Flanders and Holland, the most renowned painters had made it their speciality. This transition of taste took place in Saint Germain des prés thanks to artists of Flemish origin such as Louise Mouillon or Jacques Linard, who, thanks to very pure and balanced compositions, gave the works a spiritual dimension, bordering on the sacred. Paul Liegois is one of the most talented heirs of this Parisian school, we can quote in this register Michel Picart who illustrated himself thanks to the painting of flowers. Liegois is one of the rare painters to illustrate in France a style of transition in the still life, he knew how to keep the best of what was done before him, keeping the purified aspect of the Nordic still life, with horizontal compositions, a table on which are arranged fruits, a sober background and a particular attention paid to the rendering of textures. But at the same time he announces the great French still life , whose champion was Monnoyer, by arranging the elements in a freer way, refusing any archaic symmetry. He adds goldsmith's pieces, refined fabrics, allowing him to play with reflections, precious materials whose contrasting effect he likes when they rub shoulders with the simple and fragile beauty of a fruit. Our work, whose size is remarkable in Liegeois's work is the very embodiment of this style, the sobriety of a neutral background, a horizontal line reminiscent of