Still Life with Mackerel

This refined and striking work by one of the foremost still-life painters of eighteenth-century France celebrates the arrival of mackerel in Paris in springtime, when wealthy Parisians enjoyed the freshest specimens of this delectable fish. Arranged on a stone parapet covered by a linen cloth are a silver oil and vinegar cruet stand, a silver verrière (wine glass cooler) filled with crystal stemware, a lemon, a sprig of orange blossoms, and a brioche (a rich pastry)— whetting the viewer’s appetite for a simple but sumptuous feast.

Vallayer-Coster—esteemed for the vigor of her compositions, her virtuosity as a colorist, and her magical ability to imitate nature— explores how the painting’s overall silvery tonality varies according to material and reflections of light—from glass and metal to the mutable skin of the plump fish, dazzlingly rendered with strokes of brilliant vermilion and ocher near the gills. The reflections are sensitively observed, and the white napkin or tablecloth likewise partakes in the nuances of light, all suggested with the painter’s delicacy of touch.The damask cloth mimics the type of linen the artist would have owned: the initials V and C are embroidered in tiny red cross-stitch, along with the number 6, for the inventory of the painter’s housekeeper.