Still Life Painting, Small Still Life With Pomegranate, Antique Painting, XIX. (qnm754)

The antique paintings category, still life, presents a small oil on canvas painting dating to the late 19th century, of French origin.

The composition depicts a still life with a ripe pomegranate, split in two, resting on a light-colored plate and surrounded by green leaves,

rendered with remarkable chromatic and textural sensitivity.

The brushwork is soft and controlled, enhancing the brilliant red seeds in contrast with the neutral background tones, in keeping with the

finest tradition of 19th-century French still life painting.

This antique still life painting is signed lower left A. Aridas and dedicated to a friend, a French painter.

Auguste Aridas (1848-1929) was born in Angers. A key influence in his artistic education was Jean-Léon Gérôme, a highly respected

academic painter at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where Aridas studied drawing and painting at a young age.

In 1881, Aridas moved to Limoges, where he was appointed professor of drawing in the upper division of the city’s École des Arts Décoratifs.

Throughout his career, Aridas took part in major art exhibitions, including the Salon des artistes français in Paris (1878, 1882, 1889) and the

Salon des Indépendants in 1907, where he exhibited alongside Impressionist painters while maintaining a more academic approach.

Today, Aridas’s works are held in public and private collections, including the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Angers and the Musée des

Beaux-Arts of Limoges.

The painting is enhanced by an original gilded frame, contemporary with the artwork, adding significant decorative and collectible value.

Both the frame and the oil painting have been professionally restored with great care.

Bisgart Collection

YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://youtu.be/jnMVtPMPjK0

Bibliography:
E. Bénézit. Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs.

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Canvas size: 27 × 21.5 cm
Framed size: 42.5 × 34.5 cm
Depth: 5 cm
Weight: 1 kg