Anne Vallayer-Coster
Before today's story I want to mention that this month will be special in terms of female artists. We are always trying to feature them as often as we can—and today we have this chance thanks to Nationalmuseum in Stockholm :) Be prepared for more!
Anne Vallayer (1744–1818) was elected to the French Academy of Art at the age of just 26. This was a remarkable event at the time, given the artist’s youth and the fact that she was a woman in a male-dominated institution, and an unmarried woman at that. There is no indication that Vallayer enjoyed royal patronage, but she did not lack for mentors in the ranks of the academy. Claude-Joseph Vernet, a landscape painter, had been her teacher. It was as a painter of still lifes that she was elected to the academy.
Vallayer, who in 1781 married Jean-Pierre-Silvester Coster, a successful lawyer, specialized primarily in floral painting. Thanks to her effective use of color and skilful illusionism, her still lifes were much in demand, but ranked relatively low in the subject matter hierarchy of the time. Vallayer-Coster therefore tried to expand her range of motifs by deliberately incorporating objects more usually associated with historical painting. In the hope of attracting royal clients, she also painted portraits, which led to commissions from the king’s aunts and from Queen Marie Antoinette.
Despite her ambition of expanding her range of motifs, Vallayer-Coster painted very few portraits, and many of those that she did had a direct personal connection. In the light of this fact and a certain resemblance, researchers have suggested that Portrait of a Violinist is a genre painting of one of the artist’s three sisters, Madeleine, Elisabeth, or Simone. It is not known whether any of them really did play the violin, but what is clear is that Vallayer-Coster had an extraordinary gift for depicting musical instruments. A sense of calm and contemplation permeates the self-contained composition. Even the broken strings contribute to the visual excellence of the image, while also raising questions as to their significance. Portrait of a Violinist undoubtedly ranks among the artist’s foremost works.