Emile Godchaux – Still Life With Grapes And Peaches – Oil On Canvas, 116 X 89 Cm – Signed

Emile GODCHAUX
Large Still Life with Grapes and Peaches
Oil on canvas
Signed “Godchaux” lower right
116 x 89 cm — 121 x 94 cm with frame (50 Figure format)
Condition: good condition, beautiful, fresh colors; a few old repairs visible on the back
Frame: gilded molded moldings, modern

One has to imagine where this painting was originally intended to hang. One meter sixteen high, nearly one meter wide: this is no small cabinet painting; it’s a dining room piece, hung opposite the table, meant to be viewed during meals. Godchaux painted for that very spot, and he painted on a grand scale.

In the center, a copper vessel with a folded-down lid—dented, riveted, and blackened by fire at its base. A well-used utensil, and the painter makes no attempt to make it look new. Light glides down its side in a long yellow streak—it is the brightest spot on the canvas.

All around are late-summer fruits. Behind them, a wicker basket full of peaches resting on vine leaves. On the right, a basket of white grapes that overflows and spills onto the table. A white earthenware dish with a blue border, leaning against the basket, provides a cool contrast to the copper. On the left, a stoneware pot topped with its lid; in the shadow of the background, the bluish silhouette of another vessel that is barely discernible.

The background itself is rendered in broad strokes of gray and brown, without any detail. This is a deliberate choice: the fruit takes center stage; it is all we see. And this is where the format truly shines—the grapes are placed one by one, each with its own glint of light, on a surface where others would have settled for a mere mass. A few peaches and a few isolated grapes roll about in the foreground, a detail he often used to enliven the edge of the table.

The colors have remained vivid: the red of the peaches has not faded, and the whites of the dish and tablecloth are bright. A traditional still life, executed with a swift and confident hand.

Condition and Frame
Good overall condition. A few old repairs are visible on the back, with no impact on the front. The paint layer is well-preserved, the impasto on the fruit is intact, and the colors have retained their freshness. A fine network of age-related craquelure, normal for a canvas of this period. Modern, well-crafted frame with gilded molded moldings.

The Artist
Emile Godchaux was born around 1860 in Bordeaux and died in 1938. Little archival information is available about this artist: the Bénézit dictionary lists him as the son of the painter Alfred Godchaux (1835–1895), with whom he shares the same subjects and a very similar signature—the two men are, in fact, regularly confused with one another. He had, however, no connection to the animal sculptor Roger Godchaux.

A painter of landscapes, seascapes, genre scenes, flowers, and still lifes, he sold many works during his lifetime, sometimes directly in public squares. It was his compositions of fruits and flowers that established his reputation, and it is these works that are sought after today. His large canvases regularly appear at public auctions, where size matters: paintings of this scale are the most sought-after.

Work on view at the gallery (07240)
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