GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Painted at the height of Anne Vallayer-Coster's artistic powers, this still-life painting belonged to a high-ranking official of the entourage of the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. It was exhibited at the Salon of 1777, the year after it was painted. Vallayer-Coster was one of four women painters who enjoyed the privileges and prestige of membership in the Royal Academy during the last quarter of the 18th century. Through the patronage of her earliest champion, Marie Antoinette, and the sheer virtuosity of her talent, Vallayer-Coster's career flourished throughout the 1770s and 80s, only fading with the tumult of the French Revolution in 1789. Celebrated especially for her brilliant depictions of flower arrangements, Vallayer-Coster was considered the successor to Jean-Siméon Chardin as the foremost still-life painter of the French school.
Adapted from
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2009.
NOTES
Created 1776
See Working Among Flowers: Floral Still-Life Painting in Nineteenth-century France- in Dropbox, Digi assets- Euro
Collection of M. de Montullé; vente Collection Cournerie, 1891; vente Collection Lacroix, 1901; Didier Aaron & Cie, Paris; Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, Mrs. John B. O’Hara Fund and gift of Michael L. Rosenberg, 1998
1998.52.FA- VALLAYER-COSTER:
Mr. Rosenberg greatly admired Anne Vallayer-Coster. His collection included a little still life, A Vase of Flowers and Two Plums on a Marble Tabletop (fig. 9), and he, of course, contributed toward the acquisition of the beautiful pair of paintings purchased for the DMA, including Bouquet of Flowers in a Blue Porcelain Vase (fig. 10). [8] Vallayer-Coster was brought up in the Gobelins tapestry factory complex. Her father was a goldsmith and clockmaker, and thus she grew up literally in the context of decorative art. Mr. Rosenberg’s still life, considered an easel painting, may have served originally as a Gobelins tapestry model. This tapestry was made for the back of a chair currently in the collection of the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris. (21)
[8] The small still life was sold from the Rosenberg Collection as Anne Vallayer-Coster, A Vase of Flowers and Two Plums on a Marble Tabletop, 1781, oil on canvas, oval, Christie’s, New York, January 26, 2005, lot 50. The pendant works include fig. 10 and Bouquet of Flowers in a Terracotta Vase, with Peaches and Grapes, 1776, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, Mrs. John B. O’Hara Fund and gift of Michael L. Rosenberg, 1998.51.FA.
Philip Conisbee, "Michael L. Rosenberg's Eighteenth Century," 11-23, in French Art of the Eigteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016.
Anne Vallayer-Coster was one of the most prominent female artists of the eighteenth century. Although lacking the benefit of formal academic
training, she was received into the French Academy of Painting and Sculpture with acclaim in 1770. Thereafter, she forged a brilliant career,
exhibiting regularly at the Salon until the Revolution and gaining the support of powerful patrons, most notably Marie Antoinette. These two sumptuous floral still lifes were painted as a pair in 1776 and exhibited at the Salon the following year. The paintings are impressive for both
their monumental scale and the intricate play of contrasts that Vallayer-Coster sets up between the elements of the two still lifes, for instance opposing the slick sheen of blue porcelain and gilded bronze in one vase to the chalky dry surface of terracotta in the other. The two canvases
have always remained together, allowing a full appreciation of Vallayer-Coster’s technical virtuosity and compositional acumen.
Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 174.
Artist/designers
Vallayer-Coster_Anne: ULAN: 500007243
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Place of origin: Paris (France): TGN: 7008038
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Historical periods
1776
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WEB RESOURCES
- National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC~Learn more about Anne Vallayer-Coster.
- DMA Uncrated~Check out the blogs from the Dallas Museum of Art that include works by Vallayer-Coster.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York~View another still life by Vallayer-Coster.
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General Description
Painted at the height of Anne Vallayer-Coster's artistic powers, this still-life painting belonged to a high-ranking official of the entourage of the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. It was exhibited at the Salon of 1777, the year after it was painted. Vallayer-Coster was one of four women painters who enjoyed the privileges and prestige of membership in the Royal Academy during the last quarter of the 18th century. Through the patronage of her earliest champion, Marie Antoinette, and the sheer virtuosity of her talent, Vallayer-Coster's career flourished throughout the 1770s and 80s, only fading with the tumult of the French Revolution in 1789. Celebrated especially for her brilliant depictions of flower arrangements, Vallayer-Coster was considered the successor to Jean-Siméon Chardin as the foremost still-life painter of the French school.
Adapted from
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2009.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC~Learn more about Anne Vallayer-Coster.
- DMA Uncrated~Check out the blogs from the Dallas Museum of Art that include works by Vallayer-Coster.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York~View another still life by Vallayer-Coster.
Notes
Created 1776
See Working Among Flowers: Floral Still-Life Painting in Nineteenth-century France- in Dropbox, Digi assets- Euro
Collection of M. de Montullé; vente Collection Cournerie, 1891; vente Collection Lacroix, 1901; Didier Aaron & Cie, Paris; Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, Mrs. John B. O’Hara Fund and gift of Michael L. Rosenberg, 1998
1998.52.FA- VALLAYER-COSTER:
Mr. Rosenberg greatly admired Anne Vallayer-Coster. His collection included a little still life, A Vase of Flowers and Two Plums on a Marble Tabletop (fig. 9), and he, of course, contributed toward the acquisition of the beautiful pair of paintings purchased for the DMA, including Bouquet of Flowers in a Blue Porcelain Vase (fig. 10). [8] Vallayer-Coster was brought up in the Gobelins tapestry factory complex. Her father was a goldsmith and clockmaker, and thus she grew up literally in the context of decorative art. Mr. Rosenberg’s still life, considered an easel painting, may have served originally as a Gobelins tapestry model. This tapestry was made for the back of a chair currently in the collection of the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris. (21)
[8] The small still life was sold from the Rosenberg Collection as Anne Vallayer-Coster, A Vase of Flowers and Two Plums on a Marble Tabletop, 1781, oil on canvas, oval, Christie’s, New York, January 26, 2005, lot 50. The pendant works include fig. 10 and Bouquet of Flowers in a Terracotta Vase, with Peaches and Grapes, 1776, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, Mrs. John B. O’Hara Fund and gift of Michael L. Rosenberg, 1998.51.FA.
Philip Conisbee, "Michael L. Rosenberg's Eighteenth Century," 11-23, in French Art of the Eigteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016.
Anne Vallayer-Coster was one of the most prominent female artists of the eighteenth century. Although lacking the benefit of formal academic
training, she was received into the French Academy of Painting and Sculpture with acclaim in 1770. Thereafter, she forged a brilliant career,
exhibiting regularly at the Salon until the Revolution and gaining the support of powerful patrons, most notably Marie Antoinette. These two sumptuous floral still lifes were painted as a pair in 1776 and exhibited at the Salon the following year. The paintings are impressive for both
their monumental scale and the intricate play of contrasts that Vallayer-Coster sets up between the elements of the two still lifes, for instance opposing the slick sheen of blue porcelain and gilded bronze in one vase to the chalky dry surface of terracotta in the other. The two canvases
have always remained together, allowing a full appreciation of Vallayer-Coster’s technical virtuosity and compositional acumen.
Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 174.
Artist/designers
Vallayer-Coster_Anne: ULAN: 500007243
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: Paris (France): TGN: 7008038
Process/materials
Historical periods
1776
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE .
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
source file
object_notes_1_b-0278.xml.nores