Location

216B French and German

Description

During the later part of the 1700s, fruit still lifes were extremely popular, and a basket of plums was a common motif. In Vallayer's painting the details, especially the plums and the basket, emerge from deep shadows. The colors are vivid reds and violets and a sense of immediacy is invoked by the growing moss, the cakes in their crisp papers, and the glass of water with its sparkling highlights and reflections.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed lower right: "M.elle Vallayer / 1769"

Provenance

Baron Herzog, Budapest, Hungary

1918

Axel Ryden, Stockholm, Sweden

1934

Osborn Kling, Stockholm, Sweden

September 25-26, 1934

(Sale: H. Bukowski, Stockholm, Sweden, September 25-26, 1934, no. 323)

1938

Thorsten Laurin, Stockholm, Sweden, and his daughter Mrs. B. Stjernsward, Sakanor, Sweden

June 24, 1970

(Sale: Sotheby's, London, June 24, 1970, no. 4)

[Old Masters Gallery, London, England]

-1971

[H. Shickman Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art

1971-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Paris, Salon, 1771. cat. no. 147

Collection des livrets des anciennes expositions depuis 1673 jusqu'en 1800. Paris: Liepmannssohn et Dufour, 1869. . p. 29, no. 147;

Engelska, franska, italienska, nederländska, spanka och tyska konstverk: Utst. Nationalmuseum 1918. 1918. cat. no. 40

Bukowskis (Firm). Möbler, bronser, skulptur. mattor ... silver, keramik, oljemålningar. 1934. no. 323, illus. pl. 37

Laurin, Thorsten, and Ragnar Hoppe. Katalog över Thorsten Laurins samling av mäleri och skulptur. Stockholm: [P.A. Norstedt], 1936. no. 399, pl. 218

Matthiesen konsthandel A.-B. Stilleben fran tre århundraden. [Göteborg]: [Isacsons], 1938. cat. no. 52.

Nationalmuseum (Stockholm). Fem sekler Fransk konst: bilder från utställningen i Nationalmuseum [Stockholm. 15 augusti-9 november 1958]. Stockholm: Nationalmuseum, 1958. cat. no. 102

Sotheby's (Firm). Important Old Master Paintings. 1970. no. 4

Roland Michel, Marianne. Anne Vallayer-Coster, 1744-1818. Paris (5e): C.I.L. [Comptoir international du livre, 24, rue des Carmes], 1970. no. 183, p. 155

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Reproduced: p. 152; Mentioned: p. 151

Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1971.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 59, no. 1 (1972). cat. no. 56 www.jstor.org

Michel, Marianne Roland, and Ursula Korneitchouk. “A Basket of Plums.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no. 2 (1973). pp. 52-59, figs. 4, 5, 6, 10 www.jstor.org

Clark, Carol C. “Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin: Still Life with Herring.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 61, no. 9 (1974). 309, 314, n. 2, fig. 2 www.jstor.org

Faré, Michel, and Fabrice Faré. La vie silencieuse en France: la nature morte au XVIIIe siècle. Fribourg: Office du Livre, 1976. p. 217, fig. 332

Weisberg, Gabriel P., and William S. Talbot. Chardin and the Still-Life Tradition in France. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1979. cat. no. 7

Kahng, Eik, Anne Vallayer-Coster, Marianne Roland Michel, and Colin B. Bailey. Anne Vallayer-Coster, Painter to the Court of Marie-Antoinette. [Dallas, TX]: Dallas Museum of Art, 2002. cat. 2, fig. 7, p. 197;

Cherry, Peter, Juan J. Luna, Natacha Seseña, and Luis Meléndez. Luis Meléndez: bodegones. [Madrid]: Museo Nacional del Prado, 2004. cat., fig. 42, p. 95

Luna, Juan J. "Meléndez and the Development of Spanish and European Still Life Painting in the Eighteenth Century." In Meléndez: Still Lifes. Peter Cherry, and Juan J. Luna, 44-79. [Dublin]: National Gallery of Ireland, 2004. Reproduction: P. 65-66, fig. 46

Exhibition history

Salon, Paris, France (1771).

English, French, Italian, Netherlandish, Spanish, and German Art, National museum, Stockholm, Sweden (1918).

Three Centuries of Still Life, Göteborg Art Museum, Sweden, (April 28-May 17, 1938).

Five Centuries of French Art, National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden (15 August-9 November).

Luis Melendez: Bodegones, Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, Spain (Feb. 17 - May 16, 2004).

Year in Review: 1971. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (December 28, 1971-February 6, 1972).

Chardin and the Still Life Tradition in France. The Cleveland Museum of Art (June 6-August 12, 1979).

Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-October 17, 1993).

Anne Vallayer-Coster: Still-Life Painting in the Age of Marie Antoinette. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (June 30-September 22, 2002); The Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (organizer) (October 13, 2002-January 5, 2003); Frick Collection, New York, NY (January 21-March 23, 2003); Centre de la Vieille Charité, Marseille, France (April 9-June 23, 2003).