Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer

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Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer
(French, 1636-1699)

A Garland of Flowers Surrounding a
Cartouche with the Portrait of a
Female Holding the Palm of Martyrdom

Oil on Canvas, 32.8 x 24.6 in
(83.3 x 62.5 cms)

(in a substantial 18th or early
19th-century carved and gilded frame
in the Louis XIV style)

	Provenance: Norman Jenkinson, London; Christie's London, July 4, 1919, lot 115 (as 'Baptiste'); Museums and Collections: The Louvre, Paris; The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg; The Getty Museum; The Detroit Institute of Arts; The Residenzgalerie, Salzburg; The Fitzwilliam, Cambridge; Le Château de Versailles; Le Musée des Beaux Arts, Marseilles; Le Château de Fontainebleau; Le Musée Fabre, Montpellier; and countless other museums and private collections.

	Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer set a style of decorative flower painting for the adornment of great French residences including Versailles. Born in Lille in 1636, he began his artistic career in Antwerp as a student of Davidsz. de Heem. Briefly painting historical scenes, Monnoyer quickly turned to the painting of flowers and fruit for which he is most famous. In 1655 he moved to Paris where he found favor in the court of Louis XIV and was employed to paint murals in many of the Royal châteaux including Vincennes, Saint-Cloud, Versailles, le Grand Trianon and Marly. While in France, Monnoyer drew cartoons for tapestries for Gobelins and also engraved several prints of vases of flowers. He became a member of the Academy in 1663. In 1685 Monnoyer accepted an invitation given by the English Ambassador to France, Lord Montague, to decorate Montague House. While in London he also worked for Marie II and Queen Anne at Kensington House. Monnoyer died in London in 1699. Monnoyer's flower pieces are rich and splendid, yet painted with the greatest regard for botanical accuracy.