DE SOMME (active in Paris between 1636 and 1673) - Lot 29

DE SOMME (active in Paris between 1636 and 1673) Bunches of grapes on an entablature. Panel. 23 x 35 cm Claudia Salvi has recently grouped eleven still lifes of fruit, peaches and bunches of grapes on crimson velvet [1], to which we can add this one. She was able to reconcile these paintings, formerly attributed to Paul Liégeois or Charlotte Vignon, and, thanks to a period engraving, return them to Sieur De Somme, a painter mentioned in Paris in the 17th century (Félibien). The artist probably had Nordic origins (van Sommer?) and was part of the still-life movement of Anne of Austria's Regency and the early reign of Louis XIV: Paul Liégeois, Pierre Dupuis, Pierre Antoine Lemoine... To the rigor of the Protestant painters of the first half of the 17th century (Moillon, Linard...), they add a quiver or velvet effects that Willem Van Aelst had diffused during his stay in Paris between 1645 and 1649. De Somme's works are characterized by the transparency of grape berries, the distinctive cut of vine leaves and bright red draperies. [1] Claudia Salvi-Faré, "Tableaux de fruits peints à Paris au milieu du XVIIe siècle : le catalog inédit du " sieur de Somme "", Carnet de recherche du Groupe de Recherche en Histoire de l'Art Moderne (GRHAM), published online on June 12, 2022.