Basket of Plums — About This Work
Anne Vallayer-Coster, 1769
About the Work
Plums, cakes and a basket emerge from deep shadow on a stone ledge. Vallayer-Coster makes the still life a meeting of different surfaces, from the fruit's coloured skins to crisp wrapping paper and the woven container.
The museum places the subject within the popularity of fruit still lifes in the later eighteenth century. The familiar basket becomes particular through small details, including moss and the sparkling reflection of a glass of water.
Rich reds and violets hold attention within the darker setting. The painting's immediacy comes from these closely observed differences rather than from a large event, inviting the eye to move patiently between objects that might otherwise be overlooked.
The Work
Artist: Anne Vallayer-Coster
Title: Basket of Plums
Date: 1769
Medium: Oil on canvas
Recorded dimensions: 46.2 × 38 cm (W × H)
Collection: Cleveland Museum of Art
Accession number: 1971.47
Print & Presentation
Palatine presentation: 45 × 60 cm Classic Frame, landscape.
The complete artwork is reproduced at its recorded scale, subject only to negligible whole-pixel rounding, without enlargement, reduction, cropping or distortion. The surrounding white presentation area accommodates the artwork within the framed presentation and is incorporated into the print rather than added as a separate mount.
Frame finishes: Black, White or Natural.
Paper & glazing: Enhanced Matte + Perspex; or Enhanced Matte + Moth-Eye.
Why Original Scale?
Most art-print shops offer the same image in a choice of Small, Medium and Large sizes. We take a different approach. For each edition, we begin with the recorded dimensions of the original work and reproduce the complete image at that scale, preserving its proportions and avoiding enlargement, reduction, cropping or distortion.
Source: Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0. Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund. 1971.47.
Care: Display in a dry interior away from prolonged direct sunlight and sources of moisture.
Notes from Palatine
If you would like to stay with us, Notes from Palatine is an occasional letter about newly added works, artists and the thinking behind the collection. There is no fixed schedule; we write when there is something worth sharing.
Palatine Editions · Original Scale Editions · palatineeditions.com