Still Life with Monkey, Fruits, and Flowers
Jean-Baptiste Oudry·1724
Historical Context
Jean-Baptiste Oudry painted Still Life with Monkey, Fruits, and Flowers in 1724, early in a career that would make him the preeminent painter of animals and hunts in 18th-century France. The inclusion of a live monkey transforms what might be a straightforward decorative still life into something more animated and potentially allegorical: monkeys in early modern European painting often carried overtones of mimicry, vanity, or playful mischief. Oudry trained under Nicolas de Largillière and absorbed the Flemish tradition of opulent, virtuosic still life; his work in this genre combined technical mastery of textures—fur, fruit skin, flower petals—with a specifically French elegance and compositional clarity. This painting belongs to a moment when still life was ascending in prestige within the French Academy.
Technical Analysis
Oudry balances the soft fur of the monkey against the varying textures of fruit and flower petals with considerable painterly skill. Light enters from one side, modeling forms in the Flemish tradition. His handling is precise yet not labored—each grape, petal, and leaf retains a freshness suggesting swift execution from direct observation.
Provenance
Louis Aubert, Lyon (died c. 1886); his sale, Hôtel des Ventes, Lyons, April 12–13, 1886, lot 43, as Singe dérobant des fruits. Paris art market, c. 1970 [according to Opperman 1977 and telephone conversation of Opperman with Martha Wolff, July 12, 2005]. Heim Gallery, London by 1977; sold to the Art Institute, 1977.
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