Anne Vallayer-Coster
Encyclopedia
Anne Vallayer-Coster was an 18th-century French
painter
. Known as a prodigy artist at a young age, she achieved fame and recognition very early in her career, being admitted to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1770, at the age of twenty-six.
Despite the negative reputation that still life painting had at this time, Vallayer-Coster’s highly developed skills, especially in the depiction of flowers, soon generated a great deal of attention from collectors and other artists. Her “precocious talent and the rave reviews” earned her the attention of the court, where Marie Antoinette
took a particular interest in Vallayer-Coster's paintings.
Regardless of her closeness to the ancient régime and France's hated monarch she survived the bloodshed of the French Revolution
. However, the fall of the French monarchy, which were her primary patrons, caused her banishment into the shadows.
Anne Vallayer-Coster was a woman in a man’s world. It is unknown what she thought of contemporaries who admitted her to the confraternity, and made her an honorary ‘man’. Her life was determinedly private, dignified and hard-working. Occasionally she attempted other genres, but for the usual reasons her success at figure painting was limited.
along the Seine River in France
, Vallayer-Coster was one of four daughters born to a goldsmith of the royal family at Gobelines. In 1754, Anne’s father moved their family to Paris. Anne Vallayer-Coster seems not to have entered the studio of a professional painter, but instead received her training from a variety of sources, including her father, the botanical specialist Madeleine Basseport
, and the celebrated marine painter Joseph Vernet.
By the age of twenty-six, Vallayer-Coster was still without a name or a sponsor; this proved to be a worrisome issue for her. Reluctantly, she submitted two of her still lifes (one of The Attributes of Painting, and The Attributes of Music) to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, as reception pieces in 1770. She was unanimously elected into the Royal Académie once the honorable Academicians saw her paintings, making her one of only four women accepted into the Académie before the French Revolution
. This moment of success however, was overshadowed by the death of her father. Immediately her mother took over the family business, quite commonly the case during this time, and Anne continued to work to help support her family.
Vallayer-Coster exhibited her first still lifes with flowers in 1775 and four years later she began to enjoy the patronage of Marie Antoinette
. With her Court connections and pressure from Marie Antoinette
, she received space in Louvre
in 1781 which was unusual for women artists. Shortly thereafter, in the presence of Marie Antoinette
at the courts of Versailles
, she married Jean-Pierre Silvestre Coster, a wealthy lawyer, parlementaire, and respected member of a powerful family from Lorraine
. With these titles came the very highest ranks of the bourgeoisie
s, the noblesse de robe. With such a prestigious title came a state office which, traditionally during this time was bought from father to son, making them almost indistinguishable from the old nobility.
was deepening and the Académie was as resistant as ever to welcoming women into its ranks. A common image of Vallayer-Coster was not only as a virtuous artist but as a skillful diplomat and negotiator as well, sharply aware both of her potential patrons' interests and of her own, unusual position as prominent woman artist.
The two paintings the she submitted for review to the Académie in 1770, The Attributes of Music and The Attributes of Painting, now in the holdings of the Louvre
. The former is among the early career highlights presented in the Frick exhibition.
in 1793, the ancient regime, that up to this point had supported Vallayer-Coster, disappeared. Despite her noble status and her connection to the throne, Vallayer-Coster was able to deviate away from the pandemonium of the French Revolution
in 1789. Even with the arrival of Napoléon when the empress Josephine acquired two works from her in 1804, her reputation suffered. After this period of national upheaval, little is known of Vallayer-Coster’s career. The only exception that came from this was that she replaced her previous work of still lifes for that of flower portraits; however, these proved to be unavailing.
In 1817 she made a come back with her old subject matter by way of the exhibition of her Still Life with Lobster in the Paris Salon
. This piece belonged to Louis XVIII after he was restored to the French throne in 1814. There is some evidence to believe that at Vallayer-Coster gave it to “the king as an expression of her joy as a loyal Bourbon
supporter through the turbulent years of the Revolution and Napoleonic imperialism.
Commenting on the Salon exhibit of 1771, the encyclopedist Denis Diderot
noted that "if all new members of the Royal Academy made a showing like Mademoiselle Vallayer's, and sustained the same high level of quality, the Salon would look very different!"
She died in 1818 at the age of seventy-four having painted more than 120 still lifes always with a distinctive colouristic brilliance.
She had a way about her paintings that resulted in their attractiveness. It was the “bold, decorative lines of her compositions, the richness of her colors and simulated textures, and the feats of illusionism she achieved in depicting wide variety of objects, both natural and artificial” which drew in the attention of the Royal Académie and the numerous collectors who purchased her paintings. This interaction between art and nature was quite common in Dutch
, Flemish
and French
still lifes. Her work reveals the clear influence of Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin
, as well as 17th-century Dutch masters, whose work has been far more highly valued, but what made Vallayer-Coster’s style stand out against the other still life painters was her unique way of coalescing representational illusionism with decorative compositional structures.
The end of the 18th-century and the fall of the French monarchy closed the doors on Vallayer-Coster’s still life ‘era’ and opened them to her new style of florals. It has been argued that this was the highlight of her career and what she is best known for. However, it has also been argued that the flower paintings were futile to her career. Nevertheless, this collection contained floral studies in oil, watercolor and gouache.
. The images portrayed in her paintings harmonized with the elite bankers and aristocrats
, whom held confidence in what they owned. These same men with their ownership of the objects and the paintings believed that they also owned a nation as well. Their high societal status and material possession made them believe that they could “knock still-life off its pedestal”. To Michel Foucault
, the Enlightenment's encompassing stare and classification of appearances stood for repressive control.
, and curated by Eik Kahng, this exhibition had its debut at the National Gallery of Art
, where it opened on June 30, 2002 and closed on September 22 of the same year.
Containing more than thirty-five of Vallayer-Coster’s paintings, which were provided by both museums and private collectors of France
and the United States
, this exhibit was supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
One of her most accomplished works, and one of the highlights of this exhibition, is Still Life with Seashells and Coral (1769). Later in life, in the Still Life with Lobster (1817), which was to be her last painting, she managed what an expert called "a summation of her career," depicting most of her previous subjects together in a work she donated to the restored King Louis XVIII.
To gain an understanding of the magnitude of Vallayer-Coster's achievements, the exhibition includes additional works by such renowned artists as Chardin
, her elder and the celebrated master of still life painting, and her contemporary Henri-Horace Roland Delaporte, among others.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
. Known as a prodigy artist at a young age, she achieved fame and recognition very early in her career, being admitted to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1770, at the age of twenty-six.
Despite the negative reputation that still life painting had at this time, Vallayer-Coster’s highly developed skills, especially in the depiction of flowers, soon generated a great deal of attention from collectors and other artists. Her “precocious talent and the rave reviews” earned her the attention of the court, where Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
took a particular interest in Vallayer-Coster's paintings.
Regardless of her closeness to the ancient régime and France's hated monarch she survived the bloodshed of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. However, the fall of the French monarchy, which were her primary patrons, caused her banishment into the shadows.
Anne Vallayer-Coster was a woman in a man’s world. It is unknown what she thought of contemporaries who admitted her to the confraternity, and made her an honorary ‘man’. Her life was determinedly private, dignified and hard-working. Occasionally she attempted other genres, but for the usual reasons her success at figure painting was limited.
Earlier Years
Born in 1744 on the banks of the BièvreBièvre
Bièvre is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Namur. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 3,151 inhabitants. The total area is 109.59 km², giving a population density of 29 inhabitants per km².-External links:*...
along the Seine River in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Vallayer-Coster was one of four daughters born to a goldsmith of the royal family at Gobelines. In 1754, Anne’s father moved their family to Paris. Anne Vallayer-Coster seems not to have entered the studio of a professional painter, but instead received her training from a variety of sources, including her father, the botanical specialist Madeleine Basseport
Françoise Basseporte
Madeleine Françoise Basseporte, was a French painter.She became one of the pupils of Claude Aubriet thanks to her precocious talent for design. She replaced him as the Royal Painter after his death...
, and the celebrated marine painter Joseph Vernet.
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. This moment of success however, was overshadowed by the death of her father. Immediately her mother took over the family business, quite commonly the case during this time, and Anne continued to work to help support her family.
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
. With her Court connections and pressure from Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
, she received space in Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
in 1781 which was unusual for women artists. Shortly thereafter, in the presence of Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
at the courts of Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
, she married Jean-Pierre Silvestre Coster, a wealthy lawyer, parlementaire, and respected member of a powerful family from Lorraine
Lorraine (province)
The Duchy of Upper Lorraine was an historical duchy roughly corresponding with the present-day northeastern Lorraine region of France, including parts of modern Luxembourg and Germany. The main cities were Metz, Verdun, and the historic capital Nancy....
. With these titles came the very highest ranks of the bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
s, the noblesse de robe. With such a prestigious title came a state office which, traditionally during this time was bought from father to son, making them almost indistinguishable from the old nobility.
Career
She received early recognition of her career after being elected as an associate and a full member of the Royal Académie in 1770. Her strategies in initiating and sustaining her professional career were brilliant. She was as exceptional in achieving membership in the Academy and succeeding in a prominent, professional career late in the 18th century, when resistance to women in the public spherePublic sphere
The public sphere is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action...
was deepening and the Académie was as resistant as ever to welcoming women into its ranks. A common image of Vallayer-Coster was not only as a virtuous artist but as a skillful diplomat and negotiator as well, sharply aware both of her potential patrons' interests and of her own, unusual position as prominent woman artist.
The two paintings the she submitted for review to the Académie in 1770, The Attributes of Music and The Attributes of Painting, now in the holdings of the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
. The former is among the early career highlights presented in the Frick exhibition.
Later Years
With the Reign of TerrorReign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
in 1793, the ancient regime, that up to this point had supported Vallayer-Coster, disappeared. Despite her noble status and her connection to the throne, Vallayer-Coster was able to deviate away from the pandemonium of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
in 1789. Even with the arrival of Napoléon when the empress Josephine acquired two works from her in 1804, her reputation suffered. After this period of national upheaval, little is known of Vallayer-Coster’s career. The only exception that came from this was that she replaced her previous work of still lifes for that of flower portraits; however, these proved to be unavailing.
Paris Salon
The Salon , or rarely Paris Salon , beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world...
. This piece belonged to Louis XVIII after he was restored to the French throne in 1814. There is some evidence to believe that at Vallayer-Coster gave it to “the king as an expression of her joy as a loyal Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
supporter through the turbulent years of the Revolution and Napoleonic imperialism.
Commenting on the Salon exhibit of 1771, the encyclopedist Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent person during the Enlightenment and is best known for serving as co-founder and chief editor of and contributor to the Encyclopédie....
noted that "if all new members of the Royal Academy made a showing like Mademoiselle Vallayer's, and sustained the same high level of quality, the Salon would look very different!"
She died in 1818 at the age of seventy-four having painted more than 120 still lifes always with a distinctive colouristic brilliance.
Style
The bulk of Vallayer-Coster’s work was devoted to the language of still life as it had been developed in the course of the 17th and 18th centuries. During these centuries, the genre of still life was placed lowest on the hierarchical ladder. For this reason, it was expatriated to women. Vallayer-Coster would not allow this to reduce the pride and thoroughness that she put into her work.She had a way about her paintings that resulted in their attractiveness. It was the “bold, decorative lines of her compositions, the richness of her colors and simulated textures, and the feats of illusionism she achieved in depicting wide variety of objects, both natural and artificial” which drew in the attention of the Royal Académie and the numerous collectors who purchased her paintings. This interaction between art and nature was quite common in Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Flemish
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
and French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
still lifes. Her work reveals the clear influence of Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin was an 18th-century French painter. He is considered a master of still life, and is also noted for his genre paintings which depict kitchen maids, children, and domestic activities...
, as well as 17th-century Dutch masters, whose work has been far more highly valued, but what made Vallayer-Coster’s style stand out against the other still life painters was her unique way of coalescing representational illusionism with decorative compositional structures.
The end of the 18th-century and the fall of the French monarchy closed the doors on Vallayer-Coster’s still life ‘era’ and opened them to her new style of florals. It has been argued that this was the highlight of her career and what she is best known for. However, it has also been argued that the flower paintings were futile to her career. Nevertheless, this collection contained floral studies in oil, watercolor and gouache.
Technique
Vallayer-Coster had a photographic quality about her paintings. She used a variation of brush strokes to create the illusion that different styles of painting were being used. This was achieved by simulation material substance in paint and through finely blended precision.Context of Art
For Vallayer-Coster, even inanimate objects had a theatrical character of their own. Her objective was to give an aspect of grandeur to everything that she painted; in doing so, she created an additional sense of stability and plenitude. The result of her work makes perfect sense within the EnlightenmentAge of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
. The images portrayed in her paintings harmonized with the elite bankers and aristocrats
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
, whom held confidence in what they owned. These same men with their ownership of the objects and the paintings believed that they also owned a nation as well. Their high societal status and material possession made them believe that they could “knock still-life off its pedestal”. To Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
, the Enlightenment's encompassing stare and classification of appearances stood for repressive control.
Exhibit
The exhibition titled “Anne Vallayer-Coster: Painter to the Court of Marie Antoinette," was the first exhibit on Anne Vallayer-Coster to provide a proper, all-encompassing representation of her paintings. It has been hung in the temporary display gallery at the Frick Collection. Organized by the Dallas Museum of ArtDallas Museum of Art
The Dallas Museum of Art is a major art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, USA, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In 1984, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Arts District, Dallas, Texas...
, and curated by Eik Kahng, this exhibition had its debut at the National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...
, where it opened on June 30, 2002 and closed on September 22 of the same year.
Containing more than thirty-five of Vallayer-Coster’s paintings, which were provided by both museums and private collectors of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, this exhibit was supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
One of her most accomplished works, and one of the highlights of this exhibition, is Still Life with Seashells and Coral (1769). Later in life, in the Still Life with Lobster (1817), which was to be her last painting, she managed what an expert called "a summation of her career," depicting most of her previous subjects together in a work she donated to the restored King Louis XVIII.
To gain an understanding of the magnitude of Vallayer-Coster's achievements, the exhibition includes additional works by such renowned artists as Chardin
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin was an 18th-century French painter. He is considered a master of still life, and is also noted for his genre paintings which depict kitchen maids, children, and domestic activities...
, her elder and the celebrated master of still life painting, and her contemporary Henri-Horace Roland Delaporte, among others.