Image scanned from slide. Color corrected by Pat Cagney.

A Flower Piece

Artist Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (French, 1636 - 1699)

CultureFrench

Date17th century

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall, Support: 43 1/2 x 34 1/2 in. (110.5 x 87.6 cm)
Overall, Frame: 51 x 41 1/2 in. (129.5 x 105.4 cm)

InscribedSigned lower left: "Baptiste"

Credit LineThe Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA

Object number64.4.1

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 206

DescriptionThis is a large oil on canvas painting. Behind a stone wall and ledge, a flower arrangement bursts with gorgeous blossoms in reds, pale pink, blues, and variant colors. In the foreground are grapes, plums and pomegranates; one is split open to reveal its red seeds. The bouquet is composed of large flowers, which spill and dangle over the stone wall.

Label TextJean-Baptiste Monnoyer French, 1636–1699 A Flower Piece Oil on canvas Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer centered his early career in Paris, where he specialized in lavish floral paintings that perfectly captured the sumptuous elegance of the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV. This towering mass of blooms is typical of Monnoyer’s richly decorative art and show the exuberance that his French and later English patrons highly prized. Museum purchase 64.4.1 ProvenanceThis painting was purchased from Leggatt Brothers in 1928 by Lord Kemsley. The firm had just purchased it from Prince Galitzine of Russia. Exhibition History"The Allegorical Table," The Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, Va., November 20, 1993 - January 9, 1994; William King Regional Art Center, Abingdon, Va., Feb. 19 - April 10, 1994. "Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006. Published ReferencesUnknown author. "A Triumph of Flowers," _The Connoisseur_ Vol. CXLVII, no. 591 (March 1961): 42.