Prevost watercolor of a Bouquet of Flowers

PREVOST, Jean-Louis, called le Jeune (c. 1760 - after 1810).
A Bouquet of flowers.
Gouache on blue paper laid down on canvas; signed in gouache, lower right: JL. Prevost Lejeune.
12 3/4" by 9 3/4" sheet, 16" x 12 1/2" framed.
Provenace: Patrick Perrin, 178 rue de Fabourg Saint-Honore 75008 Paris (PAD Office); Sotheby's, January 31, 2018 - $13,750.

During his lifetime, Prévost was a successful and widely renowned botanical painter, respected both for his watercolor and oil paintings and for his engraved works. He was a pupil of Jean Jacques Bachelier in Paris, and became a member of the Académie de Saint Luc. His paintings were consistently exhibited in the prestigious Paris Salon, and his original watercolors served as models for a series of sumptuous color-platebotanical books.His "Collection des Fleurs et des Fruits" is one of the greatest French flower books of the early nineteenth century. Unlike Redouté, his great contemporary, Prévost's intention with his works was not primarily scientific. His great "Collection," for example, was intended as a reference work for china and fabric pattern designers, and the aesthetic sensibility dominates any documentary goal in his lavishly executed compositions. In these engravings, Prévost demonstrates his mastery of the traditional still-life genre. The delicate, detailed and highly accurate depiction of each fruit and leaf exemplifies the artist's exceptional rendering skill, and the nuanced use of stipple engraving to create shadow and light makes the subject appear to emerge from the paper with vibrant three-dimensionality. His great collection was intended as a reference work for china and fabric pattern designers. The strong composition indicates his aesthetic concerns, while the delicate, detailed and highly accurate depiction of each fruit also exemplifies the artist’s exceptional rendering skill.