Offered by Galerie FC Paris
Jean-Baptiste Blin de Fontenay (Caen, 1653 - Paris, 1715)
*Signed and dated center right "Blin de Fontenay 1709
Oil on canvas
Period frame in molded and gilded wood
Total dimensions : 90 x 110 cm. The canvas alone : 77 x 98 cm
Jean-Baptiste Blin de Fontenay, a student of Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer and his best disciple, also a painter of flowers, entered the Academy in 1685 and in 1699. When Monnoyer died, he succeeded him as a Councillor of the Academy.
He worked very early with his master in the decorations of different Royal Houses: Versailles, Trianon, Compiègne, Fontainebleau, Marly.
He also took part in the embellishment of the great Parisian residences, and worked for the Manufacture des Gobelins, judging from the Inventories of the Crown, his works were very numerous in the royal collections.
He differs from Monnoyer in that his flowers are rarer, more sophisticated and sometimes exotic, and are arranged in very precious vases. Sometimes, an opening in the background of his paintings offering a perspective on nature constitutes his great originality. Combining the precision of detail that Monnoyer had taught him, with the monumental, he appears as the creator of the "Versailles" still life.
He was sought after to decorate the palaces of distinguished families. In addition, he painted many floral borders for female portraits.
He richly decorated the "Queen's Staircase" at the Palace of Versailles with flowers. There is also a rich selection of his works in the Grand Trianon. Besides two works in the gallery of the Louvre, his still lifes are in museums, and they possess a large number of paintings of the master, most of them in Caen, Bayeux, Rennes, Orleans, Avignon, Tours and Marseille.
Very good condition.