Large and Striking Antique French Oval Nature Morte Floral Oil Painting, C. 1850

Nature morte (French for “still life”) paintings first became popular in the Netherlands in the 16th century. Assemblies of flowers, fruit, and dead game were the main subject matters, and hundreds of artists from Western Europe would eventually participate in the genre. French artists such as Jean-Baptiste Oudry painted some exquisite scenes, depictions of hunt motifs including game and dogs. These subjects remained highly popular and were used in hunt lodges throughout France. The pair of paintings seen here are very well done 19th century examples of such hunt scenes, each one measuring over 57 inches wide. Both of our paintings depict hunting trophies displayed on an outdoor veranda. The balcony is elaborately styled with cavetto molding, volute scrolls, and a shaped cartouche beneath a bulbous gadrooned finial. Both paintings contain half of the cartouche and most of the finial, as if they were a continuous panoramic scene, complete with a blue sky and large trees in the background The left painting features three felled birds piled on top of a deer carcass, with fruit scattered around them. Beneath the trophies is a coiled horn with a red tassel tied to it. A similar scene can be found on the right painting, with three birds displayed on the edge of the balcony. The birds lie on top of a pale green fabric with tassels that has been loosely folded. Under the textile is a hunting rifle and another horn. A garland of fruit is draped across the rifle’s stock, rising onto the balcony. A beige fabric matte board and molded giltwood frame surround this pair of 19th century nature morte hunt trophy...

The brilliant colors of this French nature morte are quite impressive, allowing the imagery to be seen crystal clear. Oil enhancements have been applied to this 20th-century transferred image to evoke similarities to the painting that it is after, which is currently housed in Le Louvre Museum in Paris. Our version is incredibly well-done and true to the Alexandre François Desportes original, which is entitled Game, Fruit, Flowers, and a Dog (1712). A variety of felled game (a rabbit and six birds) and a hunting rifle are displayed next to a stone fountain with a mythical creature mascaron water feature. The gadrooned basin is not filled with water, but rather a woven basket of blueberries next to a cluster of fruits including peaches and cherries (there is also a blue and white ceramic bowl full of peaches on a stone to the right of the fountain). Vibrant flowers in a wicker basket sit atop the thickly molded entablature of the cream-colored fountain. A pink rose bush grows on one side of the fountain, opposite from large, verdant bushes that obscure most of the blue sky. Laying beneath the fountain basin is a white hunting dog with black markings on its ears and face. Desportes was born in 1661 in Champigneulle, in northern France, later studying in Paris with the Flemish painter, Bernaerts. Initially, Desportes was a well-respected portrait painter, living in Poland during his mid-thirties to paint aristocrats such as King John III Sobieski. Upon the king’s death, Desportes returned to Paris and switched his focus to painting animals and floral arrangements. Both Louis XIV and Louis XIV commissioned Desportes to paint portraits of their favorite hunting dogs. Desportes would often join the kings on royal hunts, where he would travel with a notebook for still life sketches...

This large (96 3/4 inches high) oil on canvas painting depicts a man and his dog on a hunt in the French countryside. A hunter dressed in red and tan with a mauve overcoat can be seen following behind a white retriever...

This large (110 inches high) oil on canvas painting depicts a successful hunter, with his felled game displayed near his retriever dogs. Our hunter is leaning against a stone pedestal, clad in blue coat and pants with his rifle beneath his right hand. The man is wearing a gold cap with red fabric attached to it and has a sword on his left hip. Three retriever dogs stand to the hunter’s left, while a fourth sits in front of him (the man appears to be motioning to this dog with his left hand). An orange terra cotta vase adorned with spiral fluting sits on top of a molded plinth at the top of the pedestal. Ivy has begun to wrap around the vase, which also is festooned with green drapery. On a ledge at the base of the pedestal is the felled game: a rabbit and three birds. The hunting display is surrounded by numerous trees and shrubbery. Mountains and a lake can be seen in the background, beneath a blue sky with pink and orange clouds and birds flying. Based on the size and vertical orientation, the scene was most likely part of a French boiserie room...

A very charming French early 20th century Nature Morte - Still Life. Oil on canvas, a wonderful grouping of a bust, flowers and books. Wonderful craq...

Fine nature morte painting, signed and dated '31, oil on canvas.

Fine nature morte painting, oil on canvas, singed and dated “31”

ORIGINAL OIL ON CANVAS PAINTING Titled 'Nature Morte L'Hiver' which translates to English as Winter Still Life, depicting winter vegetables including potatoes, onions and a leek rea...