MÉLANIE DE COMOLÉRA (? VERS 1790-APRÈS 1854 ?)
Nature morte aux fleurs, fruits et vase néo-grec
signé 'M Comolera' (en bas, à gauche, sur l'entablement)
huile sur toile
40,7 x 32,7 cm (16 x 12⁷⁄₈ in.)

Vente anonyme, Robinson, Fisher & Harding, Willis's Rooms, Londres, 23 juin 1927, lot 130 (comme M. Comoleri).
Collection particulière, Suède.

MÉLANIE DE COMOLÉRA (CIRCA 1790-AFTER 1854), STILL LIFE WITH FLOWERS, FRUIT AND A NEO-GREEK VASE, OIL ON CANVAS, SIGNED

Pupil of the painter van Spaendonck (1746-1822), Mélanie de Comoléra (c.1790-after 1854) specialized, like her teacher, in flower painting. Her compositions borrow both their precision and the vibrancy of their pigments from the Dutch master, especially notable in the type of marbleized entablature seen in our composition.
At the end of the 18th century, following the creation of the status of the free artist in 1777, many women embarked on professional painting careers, rather than pursuing art merely as a pastime. While flower painting was considered in the 1780s as a fashionable artistic education for young women preparing for marriage, some turned it into a means of emancipation, such as the Marquise de Grollier (1741–1828) and Henriette Vincent (1786–1824), both also pupils of Spaendonck.
After a career in France, Mélanie de Comoléra settled in London, where she became a flower painter for the Duchess of Clarence (1792-1849), wife of the future King William IV (1765-1837).