Peaches and grapes with carnations and other flowers in a glass vase on a draped ledge

The Parisian still life painter Jacques Samuel Bernard was one of the fourteen artists who were founder members of the Académie Royale in 1648. In 1655 he was nominated professor at the Académie, a position he held until 1674 when he assumed the role of conseiller. In 1681, however, he was expelled as a result of the decree of Louis XIV that forbade Huguenots to hold public office. M. Faré, Le grand Siècle de la Nature morte en France, 1974, pp.256-60, illustrates two signed and dated still lifes of his hand: a 'Still life of fruits, flowers and a violin' in the Silberman collection in New York, dated 1657, and a 'Vase with flowers', dated 1663, with P. de Boer, Amsterdam. An third signed work is the flower piece recorded as with Gallery Marcus, Paris, 1992 (photograph in the RKD).

We are grateful to Fred Meyer of the RKD, The Hague, for his help in cataloguing this lot.

See colour illustration