SMALL STILL LIFE WITH POMEGRANATE, ANTIQUE PAINTINGS, OIL ON CANVAS, LATE 19TH CENTURY. (QNM754)

(QNM754) The Antique Paintings category, Still Life, offers a small Oil on Canvas painting from the late 19th century. French Antiquity. The composition depicts a still life with a ripe pomegranate fruit, split in two, resting on a light-colored plate and surrounded by green leaves, rendered with great chromatic and material sensitivity. The brushwork is soft and controlled, capable of enhancing the brilliance of the red seeds in contrast with the neutral tones of the background, according to the best tradition of 19th-century French still life. The antique still life painting is signed at the bottom by A. Aridas, and dedicated to a friend, a French painter. Auguste Aridas (1848-1929) was born in Angers, an influential figure in his artistic education was Jean-Léon Gérôme, an academic painter of great prestige 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 took on the position of drawing professor in the higher division of the École des Arts Décoratifs in the city. Throughout his career, Aridas also participated in important art exhibitions: at the Salon des artistes français in Paris (1878, 1882, 1889), one of the main official salons of French art; at the Salon des Indépendants of 1907, where he exhibited alongside Impressionist painters, while maintaining a more academic training. Aridas's works are now present in public and private collections, including: Musée des Beaux-Arts of Angers; Musée des Beaux-Arts of Limoges. The painting is enhanced by a gilded frame, coeval with the painting, which increases its decorative and collectible value. The frame and the oil painting have been professionally and accurately restored. VIDEO YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/jnMVtPMPjK0 Bibliography: E. Bénézit. Dictionnaire Des Peintres Sculptures Dessinateurs et Graveurs. www.bisgart.com Bisgart Collection *** Canvas size: 27 x 21.5 cm Size with frame: 42.5 x 34.5 cm Depth: 5 cm Weight: 1 kg