Set Of Five Art Nouveau Decorative Panels. Allegory With V. French Work By The Atelier Couteau

The set is composed of five painted panels in moulded wood frames: at the centre, a large allegorical composition in which female figures move among vine stocks and tendrils in golden-brown tonalities; on either side, two autumn landscapes — one showing a colonnaded temple of love reflected in a body of water, the other an undergrowth with golden foliage crossed by a river — and two narrow vertical panels decorated with iris stems, typical of the 1900 floral repertoire.

This complete decorative programme, executed around 1900 by the Atelier Couteau & Duhamel in Calais, illustrates the vocation of Art Nouveau to dress interior architecture: these painted sets adorned drawing rooms, cafés or dining rooms, mixing allegory, landscape and stylised flora in a harmonious autumnal palette.

Condition report: Good overall condition. Pictorial layers legible and fresh on the whole, with patina and small surface wear coherent with age, original frames showing rubbing. A rare and complete mural decoration, to be remounted in panelling or distributed across a large reception wall.