A Long-Lost Masterpiece: Anne Vallayer-Coster’s Still Life Rediscovered
Anne Vallayer-Coster’s "Still Life with Flowers" reemerges after centuries. Discover its journey and the artist’s rare triumphs in 18th-century France.
Still Life with Flowers in an Alabaster Vase and Fruit (1783) by Anne Vallayer-CosterNational Gallery of Art, Washington DC
A remarkable work
Still Life with Flowers in an Alabaster Vase and Fruit was priceless to its creator, Anne Vallayer-Coster. But for centuries, its whereabouts were unknown.
Meet Anne Vallayer-Coster
Anne Vallayer-Coster (1744–1818) was one of the most significant French painters of the 18th century. She was renowned for her detailed still lifes and portraits of the French royal family.
Marie-Antoinette (after 1783) by after Élisabeth-Louise Vigée Le BrunNational Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Vallayer-Coster was a longtime member of the exclusive Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, one of few women ever admitted.
Her clients included some the most powerful people in French society—like Queen Marie Antoinette.
Still Life with Flowers in an Alabaster Vase and Fruit (1783) by Anne Vallayer-CosterNational Gallery of Art, Washington DC
In 1783 Vallayer-Coster presented the ambitious painting at the famed Salon exhibition. Held twice a year, this government-sponsored event presented the latest from French artists.
Vallayer-Coster was already known for her still lifes, and this one was instantly popular. She got many requests to purchase the canvas, but denied them all. Reportedly, she believed it to be her best work.
Vallayer-Coster kept the painting in her personal collection until her death.
It was sold at auction to a family member after her husband’s passing—and then never seen publicly again.
In 2022 the painting reappeared. A family had kept the canvas for generations, unaware of its significance. Remarkably the work was in almost pristine condition, even complete with its original frame.
Now it is part of the National Gallery's collection.
Still Life with Flowers in an Alabaster Vase and Fruit
Vallayer-Coster’s painting is so lush it’s almost hard to focus your eye. The opulent bouquet features more than a dozen different flowers, from lavender hydrangeas to red poppies. All are at the peak of freshness.
The alabaster vase builds the feeling of abundance. Rich details adorn its rim: a garland of fruits and flowers and a bronze child satyr (half man, half goat). This imagery alludes to Bacchus, the Greek god of fruitfulness and wine.
A bunch of grapes and stack of peaches rest on the marble table. These fruit were common in still lifes of the day and in the Dutch paintings that many painters used as inspiration. Less expected? A pineapple.
Pineapples (first brought across the Atlantic by Christopher Columbus in 1496) were a symbol of luxury in colonial France and Britain. Wall hangings of pineapples decorated Queen Marie Antoinette’s private apartment.
This opulent imagery would have surely appealed to a high-paying customer. So why did Vallayer-Coster choose to keep the painting for herself? Maybe as a reminder of her artistic gifts. Or maybe as a personal souvenir of her wild success. Having reached a point where she didn’t need to sell every painting, she could keep and cherish this one.
Still Life with Flowers in an Alabaster Vase and Fruit (1783) by Anne Vallayer-CosterNational Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Still Life with Flowers helps tell an important story about women artists achieving new levels of success and recognition in late-18th-century France. Like her contemporaries Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun and Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Vallayer-Coster was famous in her own time.
Anne Vallayer-Coster (after 1770) by Charles Francois Le Tellier after Anne Vallayer-CosterNational Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Anne Vallayer-Coster’s rising, and falling, star
Anne Vallayer was born in Paris in 1744. Her father was a goldsmith, and her mother took over the shop upon his death. From her family, Vallayer inherited an attention to detail.
Vase of Flowers and Conch Shell (1780) by Anne Vallayer-CosterThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
From her beloved teacher, watercolorist Madeleine Françoise Basseporte, Vallayer-Coster learned to observe and paint flowers from life.
The Shipwreck (1772) by Claude-Joseph VernetNational Gallery of Art, Washington DC
She may have learned to handle oil paint from landscape painter Claude Joseph Vernet. All this training prepared her well to make the still lifes she is best known for.
Vernet also supported Vallayer in another important aspect of being an artist—gaining recognition. He was a member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. And he presented Vallayer-Coster for admission when she was only 26.
Winter (18th century) by Anne Vallayer-CosterThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
While women artists were not uncommon, the exclusive academy rarely accepted them. Only three other women were members at the time of Vallayer-Coster’s admission, and they were all wives or daughters of members.
Additionally, women’s memberships didn’t come with full privileges. For example, women weren’t allowed to participate in nude drawing classes.
Vallayer-Coster made her Salon debut the year after joining the academy.
Still Life with Dressed Game, Meat, and Fruit (1734) by Alexandre-François DesportesNational Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Her early works closely followed the model of French still life painter Jean Siméon Chardin.
Queen Marie-Antoinette (c. 1789) by Pierre-Michel Alix after Élisabeth-Louise Vigée Le BrunNational Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Royal patron
Her compositions caught the attention of Queen Marie Antoinette. The queen became both a patron and, it seems, a friend—she was a witness to Vallayer-Coster’s wedding. This association was crucial to Vallayer-Coster’s success.
The queen commissioned portraits of herself and her daughters. She even helped Vallayer-Coster secure a studio at the Louvre.
Putti Musicians in a Medallion, Surrounded by Musical Attributes, Flowers, and Fruit Putti Musicians in a Medallion, Surrounded by Musical Attributes, Flowers, and Fruit (18th century) by Anne Vallayer-Coster|French PainterThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
Surviving a revolution
Vallayer-Coster’s royal support came to an end with the French Revolution, which deposed the monarchy. But her choice of genre may have been her saving grace. Portraitist Vigée Le Brun, for example, was forced to flee because of her associations with the queen.
Her still lifes may have allowed Vallayer-Coster to stay under the radar. She even found buyers in the new government—she made several paintings for Napoleon’s first wife, Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais.
Vigée Le Brun and Labille-Guillard’s portraits give us a direct look at individuals from the period. Vallayer-Coster’s focus on still lifes, which reflect society less directly, may also be why her art is less familiar to us today.
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