Vase of Flowers and Conch Shell

1780
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 632

Vallayer-Coster joined the French Royal Academy in 1770 as a painter of still life, the genre conventionally considered suitable to women artists in eighteenth-century Europe and the lowest of the Academy’s hierarchy of genres. She enjoyed favorable critical opinion throughout her career, as well as the patronage of Queen Marie Antoinette before the Revolution and Empress Josephine after. This painting was probably among the four still lifes and two portraits that Vallayer-Coster exhibited at the Salon of 1781.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Vase of Flowers and Conch Shell
  • Artist: Anne Vallayer-Coster (French, Paris 1744–1818 Paris)
  • Date: 1780
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: Oval, 19 3/4 x 15 in. (50.2 x 38.1 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1906
  • Object Number: 07.225.504
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.