Still-Life of Flowers in a Glass Vase

1790 · Private collection

still-life

There are only about fifteen known still-life paintings by Boilly. Their general compositions reveal Boilly's emulation of Dutch 17th century still-life masters, from Ambrosius Bosschaert and his followers, to the works of artists such as Willem van Aelst and Rachel Ruysch. This painting depicts a still-life of flowers in a glass vase, two birds, a branch of blossoms and an insect all on a table.

About the Artist

Louis Léopold Boilly

1761 – 1845

French painter and printmaker. The son of a wood-carver, Arnould Boilly (1764-79), he lived in Douai until 1778, when he went to Arras to receive instruction in trompe l'oeil painting from Dominique Doncre (1743-1820). He moved to Paris in 1785. Between 1789 and 1791 he executed eight small scenes on moralizing and amorous subjects for the Avignon collector Esprit-Claude-François Calvet (1728-1810), including The Visit (1789; Saint-Omer, Musée Hôtel Sandelin). He exhibited at the Salon between 1791 and 1824 and received a gold medal at the Salon of 1804. From the beginning his genre subjects were extremely popular with the public and collectors. In 1833, at a time when his popularity was declining, he was admitted to the Légion d'honneur and the Institut de France.

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