A Good Pair of Large Continental School c.1830 Oils on Canvas of Classical Urns & Flowers

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Origin: Continental, Probably Dutch or French
Period: Early/Mid Nineteenth Century
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1820-40
Canvas Heights: 63 inches
Canvas Widths: 19.5 inches (each)

The large unframed pair of early nineteenth century continental oils on canvas standing at over five feet high each, showing large classical stone urns and a tall bouquet of flowers and foliage showing an array of predominately red, pink and white flowers, with trailing ivy to the urns having central rococo shells flanked by dolphins, the still life’s bordered by a classically painted frame with central fleur de lys motifs and arched tops are apparently unsigned.

Both pictures are in fair condition and prove very decorative. They suffer from minor losses and show even amounts of craquelure to their surfaces. There are several repairs, visible verso to each, the tears having been well repaired at some stage though they are not re-lined. We have given them a light clean and varnish.

There is a possibility the paintings have been removed from a three or four fold panel dressing screen, with the dimensions being the right height and width for this purpose and the style fairly typical for a screen. That said, most screen panels did not generally have painted borders as detailed as these, their designs are generally more of an ‘all-over’ design or repeated pattern so it’s easily feasible this pair have always simply been a pair of pictures in their own right.

The works are well painted and the style of the pictures is reminiscent of the work of eighteenth century painters Jean Baptiste Monnoyer or Jan van Huysum. They are also in the style of seventeenth century paintings of this type such as by that of Pieter Casteels III (Antwerp 1684-1749 London).

The sheer size and profile of these pictures, and the fact they are a pair, makes them infinitely more appealing than the average still life and have real decorators attraction.
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