Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer

Sale, Paris, Picard Scp., 24 June 1993, lot 7, for 1,850,000 Francs;
Richard Green, London;
From whom acquired by the present owner.

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer. Bouquet of Flowers in an Urn. Signed and dated J.B. Monnoyer f 1665. This painting has a recent lining and stretcher. There is an original seam a third of the width from the right edge. The magnificent condition must reflect a peaceful background within ideal surroundings. The artist seems to have made a few changes as the painting developed; with a slight alteration of the background behind the flowers at upper centre left, and interestingly in the marbling of the base to the urn. The splattering of white to create a marble effect originally seems to have continued on either side of the urn itself, until this might have seemed too balanced perhaps and the lilies on the left were added and the scattered flecks of white can be seen coming through the leaves. The leaves further over to the right seem also to have been a slightly later thought and have become increasingly transparent, with a faint thinness in the shadow around them. The quality of the exceptional condition throughout is remarkable. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

One of the grandest works Monnoyer ever painted, this sumptuous canvas was conceived in the same year the artist was received into the Académie Royale, 1665. It typifies the extravagant style for which he became so well-known and that caused him to become the flower painter of choice of French aristocrats decorating their châteaux and Parisian hôtels. It achieved a world record price for a single painting by Monnoyer when last on the market in 1993, a record that still stands nearly twenty-five years later.

Monnoyer was born in Lille and studied history painting in Antwerp. He had arrived in Paris by 1650 when he was employed on the decoration of the Hôtel Lambert on the Ile Saint-Louis, one of the grandest projects of the day that attracted many of France’s leading painters. He collaborated widely, with Charles Le Brun on the Grand Trianon at Versailles and later with Hyacinthe Rigaud and Philippe de Champaigne, the latter of whom he joined in the Queen’s apartment at the château de Vincennes, painting garlands of flowers on the ceilings. In 1690 he was summoned to England by Ralph Montagu, later 1st Duke of Montagu, decorating several rooms and the staircase at Montagu House. His skill was as admired by English aristocrats as it was by the French, and he was employed at Burlington House by Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, at Kensington Palace by Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, and elsewhere.