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Lot Essay
Louise, the daughter of the protestant artist Nicolas Moillon (1555-1619), grew up in the St. Germain des Prés district of Paris, which from the beginning of the seventeenth century was a centre for painters from the southern Netherlands seeking refuge from religious persecution. Painting from an early age, she soon became influenced by the work of her stepfather, the still life artist François Garnier (1600-1658), whom her mother married in 1620. Her output appears to have been at its most productive in the 1630s, steadily decreasing after her marriage in 1640 to Etienne Girardot, a wood merchant.
Although entirely characteristic of Moillon's oeuvre, it is not that surprising that this picture was sold in 1938 with an attribution to the Flemish still life painter Jacob van Es; Moillon's compositions owe much to the Dutch and Flemish exponents of the genre, in particular Jacob van Hulsdonck, Floris van Schooten, Osias Beert, and, particularly in her larger works, to Frans Snyders and Adriaen van Utrecht. Nevertheless, as noted by Michel Faré (Le Grand Siècle de la Nature Morte en France, Fribourg, 1974, p. 56), they have the essential merit of 'témoigner de l'absolue sincérité de leur auteur'.
Although entirely characteristic of Moillon's oeuvre, it is not that surprising that this picture was sold in 1938 with an attribution to the Flemish still life painter Jacob van Es; Moillon's compositions owe much to the Dutch and Flemish exponents of the genre, in particular Jacob van Hulsdonck, Floris van Schooten, Osias Beert, and, particularly in her larger works, to Frans Snyders and Adriaen van Utrecht. Nevertheless, as noted by Michel Faré (Le Grand Siècle de la Nature Morte en France, Fribourg, 1974, p. 56), they have the essential merit of 'témoigner de l'absolue sincérité de leur auteur'.