The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Basket of Plums

Basket of Plums

1769
(French, 1744–1818)
France, 18th century
oil on canvas
Unframed: 38 x 46.2 cm (14 15/16 x 18 3/16 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1971.47
Location: 216B French and German

Did You Know?

The artist painted a companion to this work—a plate of peaches and branch of cherries.

Description

During the later part of the 1700s, fruit still lifes were extremely popular, and a basket of plums was a common motif. In Vallayer's painting the details, especially the plums and the basket, emerge from deep shadows. The colors are vivid reds and violets and a sense of immediacy is invoked by the growing moss, the cakes in their crisp papers, and the glass of water with its sparkling highlights and reflections.
  • Baron Herzog, Budapest, Hungary
    1918
    Axel Ryden, Stockholm, Sweden
    1934
    Osborn Kling, Stockholm, Sweden
    September 25-26, 1934
    (Sale: H. Bukowski, Stockholm, Sweden, September 25-26, 1934, no. 323)
    1938
    Thorsten Laurin, Stockholm, Sweden, and his daughter Mrs. B. Stjernsward, Sakanor, Sweden
    June 24, 1970
    (Sale: Sotheby's, London, June 24, 1970, no. 4)
    [Old Masters Gallery, London, England]
    -1971
    [H. Shickman Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1971-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Paris, Salon, 1771. cat. no. 147
    Collection des livrets des anciennes expositions depuis 1673 jusqu'en 1800. Paris: Liepmannssohn et Dufour, 1869. . p. 29, no. 147;
    Engelska, franska, italienska, nederländska, spanka och tyska konstverk: Utst. Nationalmuseum 1918. 1918. cat. no. 40
    Bukowskis (Firm). Möbler, bronser, skulptur. mattor ... silver, keramik, oljemålningar. 1934. no. 323, illus. pl. 37
    Laurin, Thorsten, and Ragnar Hoppe. Katalog över Thorsten Laurins samling av mäleri och skulptur. Stockholm: [P.A. Norstedt], 1936. no. 399, pl. 218
    Matthiesen konsthandel A.-B. Stilleben fran tre århundraden. [Göteborg]: [Isacsons], 1938. cat. no. 52.
    Nationalmuseum (Stockholm). Fem sekler Fransk konst: bilder från utställningen i Nationalmuseum [Stockholm. 15 augusti-9 november 1958]. Stockholm: Nationalmuseum, 1958. cat. no. 102
    Sotheby's (Firm). Important Old Master Paintings. 1970. no. 4
    Roland Michel, Marianne. Anne Vallayer-Coster, 1744-1818. Paris (5e): C.I.L. [Comptoir international du livre, 24, rue des Carmes], 1970. no. 183, p. 155
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Reproduced: p. 152; Mentioned: p. 151
    Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1971.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 59, no. 1 (1972). cat. no. 56 www.jstor.org
    Michel, Marianne Roland, and Ursula Korneitchouk. “A Basket of Plums.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no. 2 (1973). pp. 52-59, figs. 4, 5, 6, 10 www.jstor.org
    Clark, Carol C. “Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin: Still Life with Herring.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 61, no. 9 (1974). 309, 314, n. 2, fig. 2 www.jstor.org
    Faré, Michel, and Fabrice Faré. La vie silencieuse en France: la nature morte au XVIIIe siècle. Fribourg: Office du Livre, 1976. p. 217, fig. 332
    Weisberg, Gabriel P., and William S. Talbot. Chardin and the Still-Life Tradition in France. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1979. cat. no. 7
    Kahng, Eik, Anne Vallayer-Coster, Marianne Roland Michel, and Colin B. Bailey. Anne Vallayer-Coster, Painter to the Court of Marie-Antoinette. [Dallas, TX]: Dallas Museum of Art, 2002. cat. 2, fig. 7, p. 197;
    Cherry, Peter, Juan J. Luna, Natacha Seseña, and Luis Meléndez. Luis Meléndez: bodegones. [Madrid]: Museo Nacional del Prado, 2004. cat., fig. 42, p. 95
    Luna, Juan J. "Meléndez and the Development of Spanish and European Still Life Painting in the Eighteenth Century." In Meléndez: Still Lifes. Peter Cherry, and Juan J. Luna, 44-79. [Dublin]: National Gallery of Ireland, 2004. Reproduction: P. 65-66, fig. 46
  • Luis Melendez: Bodegones, Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, Spain (Feb. 17 - May 16, 2004).
    Anne Vallayer-Coster: Still-Life Painting in the Age of Marie Antoinette. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (June 30-September 22, 2002); The Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (organizer) (October 13, 2002-January 5, 2003); Frick Collection, New York, NY (January 21-March 23, 2003); Centre de la Vieille Charité, Marseille, France (April 9-June 23, 2003).
    Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-October 17, 1993).
    Chardin and the Still Life Tradition in France. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 6-August 12, 1979).
    Year in Review: 1971. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1971-February 6, 1972).
    Salon, Paris, France (1771).
    Five Centuries of French Art, National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden (15 August-9 November).
    Three Centuries of Still Life, Göteborg Art Museum, Sweden, (April 28-May 17, 1938).
    English, French, Italian, Netherlandish, Spanish, and German Art, National museum, Stockholm, Sweden (1918).
  • {{cite web|title=Basket of Plums|url=false|author=Anne Vallayer-Coster|year=1769|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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