17th Century Still Life Painting in France

Rich illustrations cover the work of the most famous proponents of the genre – Jacques Linard, Louyse Moillon, Sébastien Stoskopff, Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer – alongside lesser known artists.

A precise biography is given for each painter; introductory essays by Hilliard T. Goldfarb, chief curator of the Montreal Fine Arts Museum, and art historian Alexis Merle du Bourg shed light on the historical and artistic context in which still-life painting flowered. A well-illustrated dictionary of foreign still-life painters in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries completes the panorama and facilitates comparisons with artists working in France.

With over five hundred reproductions, including many previously unpublished paintings from private collections, and two hundred artists, Éric Coatalem’s book is a new comprehensive survey and a precious work of reference. It is the first in-depth study of French still-life painting since Michel Faré’s book in 1974.