Still life by François HABERT

We don't know much about this important painter, probably of Flemish origin, who frequented the Parisian artistic scene from an early age - one of his paintings with a garland of flowers is mentioned in the inventory of goods drawn up on the death of the painter Philippe de Champaigne (1602 - 1674) - and, no doubt, the painter and dealer Jean-Michel Picart (circa 1606 - 1682), also of Flemish origin, a veritable point of reference for all those painters and travelers who came from Flanders and Germany.
also of Flemish origin, a veritable point of reference for painters and travelers from Flanders and Germany.
Although biographical data are lacking, François Habert often signed and dated his paintings in capital letters between 1647 and 1652, which has enabled contemporary historiography to draw up a catalog of some fifteen paintings with certainty.
In all of his work, François Habert presents us with two types of painting as metaphorical framings of interior space: that of the kitchens, where unseen servants circulate, and that of the upper floors, where the masters move about, themselves absent from these spaces. In the first of these typologies, François Habert presents still lifes in which vegetables, meats and game of various kinds stand side by side with kitchen utensils. They synthesize two strong influences: on the one hand, that of Pieter Van Boucle (1610 - 1673), the most important disseminator in Paris of the style of Frans Snyders (1579 - 1657), which he toned down to formulas more likely to appeal to his Parisian clientele. On the other hand, Sebastien Stoskopff (1597 - 1657), for the limpid objectivity of frustrating objects that our painter stages in precisely the manner of the Strasbourg painter. In the second of his typologies, François Habert creates still lifes
still lifes with consoles covered in draperies or Turkish carpets, adorned with fruit, flowers and precious tableware. In addition to the influences mentioned above, they incorporate those of Jan Davidsz de Heem (1606 - 1684), who proposed the most elegant arrangements of this type of object, and consequently the most appreciated in 17th-century Europe, all schools included. The distinctive features of the Flemish and Dutch schools are thus summed up in the work of François Habert, and justify the eminent place he held within the community of painters active in the French capital at the end of the 1640s.
The painting studied here belongs to this second strand of François Habert's art.
A gold vase with embossed beech leaves and berries is adorned with florists' flowers, with peonies, hundred-leaf roses and carnations forming a crimson festoon overflowing on either side of the vase. Yellow and orange marigold roses, sunflower-colored narcissi and an orange lily (Lilium bulbiferum) create a transition from the brown background, while giving relief to the spray of flowers. A large diagonal along which the painter has placed alba roses, Guérande roses and a stem of white bells energizes the canvas's characteristic purple palette with its silvery sheen. It also ensures that the bouquet sways happily
The arrangement of these flowers in a double pattern of white and white is a real eye-catcher.
The arrangement of these flowers in a double festoon escaping from the gold bowl is both justified and magnified by its function as a door overlay. Indeed, the viewer of the painting is at the same time overhung by it; such an arrangement thus enables the painter to achieve the sought-after effect of pretense characteristic of the poetics of mimesis typical of the 17th century.
century poetics of mimesis.
The bright, glazed technique used by François Habert, such as the combination of a silky, vividly hued fabric with a carefully veined marble, recalls the importance of Willem van Aelst (1627 - 1683), who lived in Paris between 1645 and 1646 and in 1651, for the elaboration of this painting.


A whole section of François Habert's work is influenced by the Delft master's Parisian output. In conceiving his floral composition, François Habert could not ignore the learned and concise formulations of Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer. In particular, they inspired the science behind the distribution of hues, based on Monnoyer's
on the friendship of colors, on a restricted choice of floral varieties and on a creamy touch.
These are all choices that can be found occasionally in the painting studied, and which are well suited to the creation of a door overlay that can be appreciated from afar. Indeed, the lesson of a master of ceiling painting in his own speciality, such as Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer, was carefully pondered when François Habert fashioned this composition.
frame 114 x 82