(Troyes 1611–1680 Paris)
Flowers in a basket,
oil on canvas, 60 x 74.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Madrid;
sale, Duran, Madrid, 24 May 2018, lot 13;
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Gianluca Bocchi for suggesting the present attribution (written communication).

This painting is a typical example of a work from Nicolas Baudesson’s Roman period. The French painter spent a large part of his life in Rome, where he came under the influence of the naturalistic style of Mario Nuzzi called Mario dei Fiori, with whom he most probably trained. Indeed, Baudesson followed the master in his focused study of nature and sensitive deployment of light, reminiscent of Caravaggesque examples.

In the present painting, flowers are contained in a wicker basket, an element that is found in other paintings by the artist executed in his Roman period. The basket, which is low and broad, is modeled on one depicted by Mario dei Fiori in his canvas of Flowers with a squirrel and a violin in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. Other elements typical of Baudesson, which derived from Nuzzi, include the depiction of the flowers and the deployment of light from the side, falling on the flowers and drawing their realistic details into relief.

Nicolas Baudesson was born in Troyes into a family of artists, he moved to Rome in 1632 where he remained until 1666. His art always remained tied to the realism typical of the period of Louis XIII, in opposition to the more decorative style form the period of Louis XIV. On his return to France, he continued to receive numerous prestigious commissions, culminated with his admission to the Académie in 1671.