The Four Seasons, 17th century French school

17th century, Four French Paintings Depicting The Four Seasons, Circle of Noel Coypel

The four paintings, presented in carved and gilded wooden frames in the eighteenth century style, are stylistically related to the work of painter Noël Coypel (Paris, 25 December 1628 - 24 December 1707).
They represent the allegory of the four seasons. Each canvas has at its centre a depiction of a young girl, dressed in classic taste, surrounded by lively putti who play and offer her the products of the land according to the four seasons. The spring season sees triumphs of flowers adorn the young woman, while garlands and large baskets are full of delicate and colorful florets with which the children play and entertain themselves. Summer sees the maiden sitting and adorned with ears of corn, holding a sickle. Among the putti, there are those who sleep, those who play happily, who lift the wheat and who arrive in a boat from a lake depicted in the background. Some fruits, carrots and pumpkins are placed in the foreground on a wicker basket, to remember the abundance of the earth’s products in the hot season of the sun. Autumn follows, focused on the vine and grape harvest: a putto collects it, one pours it into a vat, another plays with it on the ground. A boy holding a bottle of wine offers the young woman a glass, her hair adorned with a wreath of vines. Finally winter: the young woman is covered by a putto with a soft red coat. In the foreground, the putto rolls over from the basket of wicker cabbages, pumpkins, turnips and spring onions, characteristic of the cold season. On the left, three putti are trying to light a fire, a clear reference to the cold temperatures of the period. The subjects are all contextualized in different outdoor gardens, with rich description of vegetation that varies according to the season, landscapes with rivers, waterfalls, Cities in the background, architectural elements and other details that help to harmonize and balance the compositions. The setting of the figures helps the observer’s gaze to move through the seasons, from left to right: the figure impersonating spring welcomes the viewer’s gaze and, turning to the right, accompanies him in summer. This one is slightly seated facing to the left and looks towards the following season, autumn. Here the face is placed to the left but the body, slightly rotated to the right, leads the gaze to the last season. Winter welcomes the sequence completely facing left. Chromium is played on bright, saturated and changing tones, well balanced.
The works are stylistically close to the work done by Coypel for the apartment of King Louis XIV in the Trianon palace at Versailles.
Noël Coypel was an illustrious French painter and decorator, a member of the classical school and a follower of Poussin. At a young age he joined the firm of Charles Errard, which allowed him to establish himself and obtain commissions from the court. He painted several paintings for the king’s apartments at the Louvre, for Cardinal Mazarin and for the ceilings of the queen’s apartment at the wedding of Louis XIV.
Member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture from 1663, he became a professor in 1664. He directed the Academy of France in Rome, where he worked from 1673 to 1675. Upon his return to France, he was appointed director of the Royal Academy of Painting on 13 August 1695. Coypel worked again for King Louis XIV and took part in the decoration of the Château de Versailles under the direction of Charles Le Brun, the parliament of Rennes, the Tuileries Palace and the Hôtel des Invalides (1700-1707).
The four works are very pleasant and decorative, of good artistic quality and well preserved, easily appreciated in all environments, and large enough to be exhibited in groups.