Still Life With Flowers

The style of Nicolas Baudesson is representative of the French Baroque flower painters of the seventeenth century. Baudesson, who was born in Troyes in 1611 and worked in Rome from the 1630s until 1666 was renown for his vivid colors, balanced composition and loose execution. Baudesson was influenced by the Italian flower painter Nuzzi, whose use of chiaroscuro was adopted by the artist. In contrast to royal court painter Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (whose signature on Still Life with Flowers was probably added at a later date to increase its monetary value), Baudesson tended to arrange his flowers on simple unadorned tables and without the added props seen in Monnoyer’s work. The popularity of Baudesson’s flower paintings is reflected in their being engraved by Mariette in the 1740s, a half century after the artist’s death.