Four paintings depicting The Seasons, Circle of Noel Coypel, second half of the 17th century

Four paintings depicting The Seasons, Circle of Noel Coypel, second half of the 17th century Oil on canvas. Dimensions: cm W 37 x H 46 x D 2 cm (frame) Price: private negotiation Item accompanied by our certificate of authenticity The four paintings, presented within carved and gilded wooden frames in 18th-century style, are stylistically referable to the circle of the painter Noël Coypel (Paris, 25 December 1628 – Paris, 24 December 1707). They represent the allegory of the four seasons. Each canvas features a young maiden in the center, with garments of classical taste, surrounded by lively putti who play and offer her the products of the earth according to the four seasons. The spring season sees triumphs of flowers adorning the young woman, while garlands and large baskets are filled with delicate and colorful little flowers with which the children play and entertain themselves. Summer sees the maiden seated and adorned with ears of wheat, holding a scythe in her hand. Among the putti, some sleep, some play happily, some lift the wheat, and some arrive by boat from a lake depicted in the background. Some fruits, carrots, and pumpkins are placed in the foreground, on a wicker basket, in memory of the abundance of the earth's products in the warm season of the sun. Autumn follows, centered on the vine and the grape harvest: a putto gathers it, one pours it into a vat, another plays with it on the ground. A child with a bottle of wine in his hand offers a glass to the young woman, her hair adorned with a vine garland. Finally, winter: the young woman is covered by a putto with a soft red cloak. In the foreground, the putto overturns cabbages, pumpkins, turnips, and spring onions from the wicker basket, characteristic of the cold season. On the left, three putti are intent on lighting a fire, a clear reference to the rigid temperatures of the period. The subjects are all contextualized in different outdoor gardens, with a rich description of the vegetation that varies according to the season, landscapes with rivers, waterfalls, cities in the background, architectural elements, and other details that contribute to harmonizing and balancing the compositions. The arrangement of the figures helps the observer's gaze to flow through the seasons, from left to right: the figure personifying spring welcomes the viewer's gaze and, turning to the right, accompanies it to summer. This one is seated slightly turned to the left and turns her gaze towards the following season, autumn. Here the face is placed to the left, but the body, slightly rotated to the right, leads the gaze to the last season. Winter welcomes the sequence completely turned to the left. The color scheme is played on lively, saturated, and iridescent, well-balanced tones. The works are stylistically close to the works made by Coypel for the apartment of King Louis XIV in the Palace of Trianon in Versailles. Noël Coypel was an illustrious French painter and decorator, exponent of the classical school and follower of Poussin. At a young age, he joined the studio of Charles Errard, which allowed him to establish himself and obtain commissions from the court. He painted several paintings for the king's apartments at the Louvre, for Cardinal Mazarin, and for the ceilings of the queen's apartment at the wedding of Louis XIV. A member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture from 1663, he became a professor from 1664. He directed the French Academy in Rome, where he worked from 1673 to 1675. Upon his return to France, he was appointed director of the Royal Academy of Painting on August 13, 1695. Coypel worked again for King Louis XIV and took part in the decoration operations of the Palace of Versailles under the direction of Charles Le Brun, the Parliament of Rennes, the Tuileries Palace, and the Hôtel des Invalides (1700-1707). The four works are very pleasant and decorative, of good artistic quality and well preserved, easily appreciable in all environments, and of such dimensions that they can be exhibited in a group.