Offered by Galerie Delvaille
French furniture of the 18th century & French figurative paintings
Oil on canvas, signed lower left
Dimensions: H. 46 x W. 61 cm
With original frame: H. 65.5 cm x W. 80.5 cm
Along with his brother Pierre, Antoine Grivolas is considered one of the major painters of the Ventoux region in southern France. Antoine Grivolas was born in Avignon in 1843 and died in Vallauris in 1902. Of his short career, few works remain, but they are often very well composed.
After studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Avignon, he took part in the Paris Salon from 1877. On the Côte d'Azur, he made a name for himself painting flowers and Provençal landscapes, including “Le Jardin de mon propriétaire”, painted in 1885 and now in the Musée des Cultures et du Paysage in Hyères. But it is above all for his brilliant, modern floral compositions that Antoine Grivolas is best known today. In this, Antoine Grivolas is very close to Georges Jeannin, the famous flower painter of the late 19th century, whose Parisian life led to greater success.
Antoine Grivolas is a member of the New School of Avignon, which abandoned academicism and took a new look at nature through light and shadow. His works can be found in museums in Toulon, Cannes, Hyères...
Our painting is a still life with a modernist composition. Like Georges Jeannin, Grivolas has created a “flower throw” alongside a more conventional vase. The deliberately uncluttered background and entablature, as well as the transparent vase, are intended to highlight the plant elements alone. Lighting and shadows are brilliantly mastered, and the arrangement of the flowers on the table is skilfully thought out to give the impression of a bouquet being prepared. The artist's intention is to give a spontaneous vision of nature, breaking with the academicism of the period.
On its original canvas, this work is set in a superb 19th-century frame, also original, in finely carved wood and gilded leaf.