A painting by Mélanie de Comoléra acquired by Chicago

6/11/24 – Acquisition – Chicago, The Art Institute – We clarified very recently that the collection of 19th century British art – or works associated with this school – of the Art Institute of Chicago constitutes a major axis of its acquisition policy. Like Holman Hunt (see the news item dated 3/14/22) and John Atkinson Grimshaw (see the news item dated 10/25/24), a new artist recently made her debut, Mélanie Comolera, known as Mélanie de Comoléra, a French flower painter who continued most of his long career in London in the service of the Duchess of Clarence, future Queen Adelaide, then the young Queen Victoria.

1. Mélanie de Comoléra (1789-1854)

Still life with grapes and flowersaround 1827

Oil on canvas – 40.7 × 32.7 cm

Chicago, The Art Institute

Photo : Art Institute of Chicago

See the image on his page

Remained in private English and then American hands for nearly two centuries, the Still life with grapes and flowers (ill. 1) which joined Chicago reappeared on the art market in January 2022, offered for sale by the Potomack Company in Alexandria, Virginia during the dispersal of part of the collection of the famous historic Merrywood residence. Then taken by Sahen Fine Art, it was the subject of a loan to the Art Institute in May 2022. It was finally acquired from the dealer and today seems to constitute the first work by Mélanie de Comoléra to join a collection public in North America. As stated in the museum notice [1]according to the dictionary of French Flower Painters of the Nineteenth Century published by Elisabeth Hardouin-Fugier and Etienne Grafe in 1989, a second work by the artist is believed to be in a private collection in Philadelphia. In addition to the painting in the Fitzwilliam Museum and that of Chatsworth House, accompanied by at least three watercolors, most of the work of the artist, as famous during his lifetime as today…

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