Lilies, roses, tulips, carnations, and other flowers in a glass vase on a classical architectural fragment

Nicolas Baudesson was the foremost French flower painter in the generation before Monnoyer. André Félibien, a French chronicler of the arts and official court historian to Louis XIV, wrote of the Baudesson family in his memoirs, 'they have achieved a degree of perfection much higher than that of many painters who make history paintings or portraits'. Influenced by the Roman still life painter Mario Nuzzi, called Mario dei Fiori, Baudesson travelled to Rome in the 1630s and remained there on and off until his death in 1680. When he died, the Mercure Galant noted that Louis XIV owned many of Baudesson's works, and lamented that 'the death of Mr. Baudesson is a loss that is no less considerable for Italy than for France. He was the most excellent painter of his time with regard to flowers.

We are grateful to Mr. Fred Meijer at the RKD in The Hague for suggesting the attribution to Nicolas Baudesson, on the basis of photographs.