Beautiful still life reminiscent of late 19th century painting. The elements in this painting are grouped under a food theme; we find a squash as its central attribute, surrounded by onions, eggs, a Chinese export porcelain platter, a bronze-glazed gilt ceramic bowl, an oil bottle and a white cloth. The sober treatment given to the background, the cloth and the peripheral objects draw the viewers’ attention to the intense colour and delicate beauty of the squash and plate, respectively.
Henri Louis Marie Bérengier, French engraver, was born in Marseille in 1880 and died in 1943. He was raised in a rich artistic environment and soon became his own father’s pupil, a painter artist himself who led a life of ease. He soon developed innate artist and engraver qualities, finding his inspiration in the Marseille Art Museum (Longchamp Palace) before eventually moving to and setting up his own workshop in Paris, in 1909. He received an Honorary Mention at the Paris Exhibition in 1912 but is called to the front at the onset of World War I. After the war, he resumes his artistic activities and collaboration with the prestigious French magazine “La Revue de l’Art Ancien et Moderne. In 1924, he received the Bronze Medal at the Paris Exhibition and in 1926 became a full member of the French Artists’ Society. The same year, he received the Henriette-Ernestine Boissy Prize, and in 1934 he was awarded the Silver Medal.
Source: Wikipedia.
Artist: Henri Bérengier (1880-1943).
Signed and dated bottom left corner: “H. Bérengier 1940”.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Condition: Excellent condition.
Dimensions: 50 x 61 cm. / 19 3/4 x 24 in.
Frame: 60 x 71 cm. / 23 1/2 x 28 in. Original, gilt wood.
Origin: France.