Still Life with Butterfly - Léon Louis Aristide Constans (1815-1871)

This exquisite and very rare still life with butterfly, painted in 1844 (exhibited in Paris during the 1844 Salon under no. 393), is one of the very last masterpieces of the genre, before modernism, from 1860 onwards, radically imposed a simpler painting technique on the world. This painting presents the ultimate level of "craft", a pleasure for the eyes, equal to, if not superior to, the best still lives of previous centuries, especially the 17th century. In his time, Constans was famous for his masterpieces, but only a few works by this painter appear on the market today.

This painting was exhibited in Paris during the Salon of 1844 under the number 393.
Signed below left and 1844