* Louis-Léopold Boilly La Bassée near Lille 1761-1845 Paris

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Description

Louis Léopold Boilly
Still Life of Flowers in a Glass Vase, Two Birds, a Branch of Blossoms and an Insect all on a Table
signed on table edge lower left L. Boilly
oil on panel

Provenance

Possibly Didot Collection, sale, Paris, Le Jeune, 27 December, 1796, lot 17;
Vincent Collection, sale, Paris, February 22, 1872, lot 9;
Edmond Perrier, Paris;
Private Collection France;
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, January 17, 1992, lot 95;
With Bob Haboldt & Co., Paris and New York;
From whom purchased by the present collector, November 24, 1993.

Exhibited

Fort Worth, Texas, Kimbell Art Museum, Louis Leopold Boilly 1761-1845, November 4, 1995 - January 12, 1996;
Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, Louis Leopold Boilly 1761-1845, February 4 - April 28, 1996.

Literature

Possibly H. Harrise, L.L. Boilly peintre, dessinateur, et lithographie. Sa vie et son oeuvre, 1761-1845, 1898, p. 107, no. 275;
S.L. Siegfried, The Art of Louis-Léopold Boilly, exhibition catalogue, Fort Worth and Washington D.C., 1995, reproduced p. 182, no. 155.

Catalogue Note

Etienne Breton and Pascal Zuber have seen the present painting and date it to circa 1790-95. It will be included in their forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Boilly.

Still lifes by Boilly are rare, with only about fifteen known. This splendid array of flowers, consisting of hollyhocks, gentians, roses and carnations is indebted to the Dutch masters of the 17th century that Boilly so admired. The overall composition, care of execution and the attention to detail reveal Boilly's emulation of Dutch 17th century still life masters, from Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573-1621) and his followers, to the works of artists such as Willem van Aelst (1627-1683) and Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750). Contrary to the examples set by these Dutch artists, however, there seems to be little symbolic meaning behind the objects Boilly has elected to depict. The present work is possibly identifiable with a still life entitled Fleurs et Oiseaux formerly in the Didot collection, which counted among its holding several early works by Boilly.