FRENCH ARTIST FROM THE 18TH CENTURY
Monumental still life
oil on canvas, 195×121 cm
The painting, of noteworthy dimensions, is characterized by a luxuriant cascade of flowers of various kinds and colours, that spread out in every direction, barely contained within the limits of the painting, to the point that they almost cover the whole painted surface. Only a suggestion of the ground on which the vase stands and a fragment of glittering sky can be glimpsed in the spaces left uncovered by this floral exuberance. The workmanship of the painting is equally remarkable; it is very spontaneous, with light and quick brushstrokes that define the different varicoloured corollas bathed in light with great efficiency. The vision from below upwards lends monumentality to the work, whose great vitality is expressed most strikingly by the graceful little branch of blue bellflowers that descent into the foreground.
The work may be placed in France, in the first half of the Eighteenth century, most probably under the direct influence of Antoine Monnoyer (1671-1747), a great specialist in the genre. A quite similar painting in terms of pictorial characteristics, and due to the presence of a comparable floral branch, has been presented in the antiquarian market with an attribution to the circle of the French painter.
