Vase of Flowers and Conch Shell

Vase of Flowers and Conch Shell

Vase of Flowers and Conch Shell

Artist:Anne Vallayer-Coster (French, Paris 1744–1818 Paris)
Date:1780
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:Oval, 19 3/4 x 15 in. (50.2 x 38.1 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1906
Accession Number:07.225.504

A leading exponent of still life painting, Vallayer-Coster joined the French Academy in 1770. She was patronized before the revolution by Marie Antoinette and later by the Empress Josephine.

This picture can perhaps be identified with one of "three small oval paintings of flowers and fruits" exhibited in the Salon of 1781. Diderot commented upon the truthfulness of her work. Notice the play of light on the porcelain and gilt of the vase and the iridescent sheen of the shell.
Catalogue Entry
Anne Vallayer's father was a goldsmith at the Gobelins tapestry manufactory in Paris and she lived in the Gobelins complex for the first decade of her life. It has been suggested that she studied under Joseph Vernet (1714–1789). She was received into the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1770 on the strength of two still life paintings representing attributes of the arts and of music (both in the Musée du Louvre, Paris). Although her work is characterized by a brighter palette and more detailed description, her still lifes bear vivid witness to the influence of Jean Siméon Chardin (1699–1779). She married Jean Pierre Silvestre Coster in 1781. From 1771 to 1817 she exhibited frequently at the Salon. She enjoyed favorable critical opinion throughout her career, as well as the prestigious patronage of both Queen Marie Antoinette (1755–1793) before the Revolution and Empress Josephine (1763–1814) afterwards.
Here Vallayer-Coster juxtaposes a pink conch shell with a vase of colorful flowers. The painting demonstrates an interest in texture and reflection, in the play of light on different surfaces, such as the porcelain and gilt of the vase and the iridescent sheen of the shell. It is signed at bottom right "Mlle Vallayer" and may be one of three small oval paintings of flowers and fruits that she exhibited at the Salon of 1781. Vallayer-Coster often painted flowers, especially the anemones and marguerites depicted here; the shell is an unusual inclusion. She was not only a painter of flowers, but of a wide range of still life subjects, from food to military instruments, as well as portraits and genre scenes.
[Francesca Whitlum-Cooper 2010]

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