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Basket of Plums
About the Artwork
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.
Inscriptions
Signed lower right: "M.elle Vallayer / 1769"
Provenance
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
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1971. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1971-February 6, 1972). Chardin and the Still Life Tradition in France. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 6-August 12, 1979). Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-October 17, 1993). 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).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Anne Vallayer-Coster (French, 1744–1818)
- Date
- 1769
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Unframed: 38 x 46.2 cm (14 15/16 x 18 3/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Accession no.
- 1971.47
More by Anne Vallayer-Coster in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009138
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