Anne Vallayer-Coster, along with Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun and Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, was one of the three reigning female artists in late 18th century Paris during the age of Marie-Antoinette. Though all three had very different careers, they were each extremely successful artists during the time, overcoming a complicated entry process into the Académie royale de peinture et sculpture as women and growing extensive networks of patrons in the royal court and beyond.
Vallayer1 was reçue as a full member of the Académie on July 28, 1770 at the age of only twenty-six. Her acceptance into the Académie garnered considerable attention including an announcement of the event in the Mercure de France of September 1770 which stated that she had been received as a full member on the basis of "paintings in the genre of flowers, bas-reliefs, animals [that] were the best recommendation of her talent."2
When Vallayer first exhibited at the Salon in 1771, her canvases, including a still life of sea-shells and coral, were praised by the critics. Indeed, Diderot himself exclaimed that “Il est certain que si tous les récipiendaires se présentaient comme Mademoiselle Vallayer et s’y soutenaient avec autant d’égalité, le Sallon serait autrement meublé.” (“It is certain that if all new members made a showing like Mademoiselle Vallayer’s, and sustained the same high level of quality there, the Salon would look very different.”).3
Named painter to Marie Antoinette in 1780, Vallayer moved into the apartments in the Louvre in 1781. Though her career suffered during the French Revolution due to her connections with the monarchy, Vallayer would continue to exhibit at the Salon until 1817. While now known primarily for her floral still lifes, Vallayer-Coster did not exhibit one until 1772, and even later they did not number higher than the other subjects she produced.
The present painting exemplifies Vallayer at her best: the composition exhibits an elegant balance of textures, forms, and colors, with great attention to detail throughout. A variety of flowers are perched precariously and emphatically, bursting out in multiple directions. The shimmering crystal vase, placed ever so slightly to the left of center, reflects the windows in her studio in multiple places, engaging the viewer and enlivening the otherwise still painting.
1. It was as Anne Vallayer that she moved into apartments in the Louvre in 1780, where she was the only female artist with lodgings of her own. In the following year, on 21st April, she married Jean-Pierre-Silvestre Coster, a lawyer from Nancy, who held posts in the French government, and thereafter she was known as Vallayer-Coster.
2. Kahng and Michel 2002, p. 17.
3. Kahng and Michel 2002, p. 17.