Michele Antonio Rapous

Three paintings depicting still lifes with triumphs of flowers and fruit, Michele Antonio Rapous (Turin, 1733 – 1819) Oil on canvas. Dimensions: H 78.5 cm x W 104.5 cm Price: confidential negotiation Also available for purchase individually or in pairs Items accompanied by our certificate of authenticity The three paintings, made in oil on canvas and presented in gilded wooden frames in style, depict still lifes with triumphs of flowers and fruit. The works are attributed to the excellent 18th-century Piedmontese still life painter Michele Antonio Rapous (Turin, 1733 – 1819). The compositions are described in open spaces with tall trees that, in the background, create a backdrop and a dark background on which the vibrant colors of the flowers stand out. The floral arrangements are placed in large Baroque vases, on architectural elements and laid on the ground. The fruit, melons, grapes, peaches, plums, mushrooms, are arranged as if casually on the ground or overturned in a wicker basket. In the foreground, flowering plants in backlight help to create depth to the scene. The canvases are a characteristic example of Rapous' artistic production, well representative of his ability in compositional rendering, material and in the skillful use of a lively, saturated and balanced palette. Michele Antonio Rapos (or Raposo, not Rapous as it is known today, distorting the name in the French way) was certainly the best still life author in Piedmont between the second half of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Highly appreciated by the Savoy court and the local nobility, the artist is present in the main court residences and in numerous private palaces and castles throughout Piedmont. Michele Antonio Rapos was born in Turin in 1733, to Giuseppe Antonio and Anna Teresa Chiaravelli, and died there in 1819. Brother of Vittorio Amedeo, also an important court painter, he specialized in the genre of still lifes, achieving success at the Savoy court from which he received commissions for the Royal Palace of Venaria Reale, Stupinigi, and the Royal Palace of Turin. Rapos' still lifes possess particular characteristics that make them easily identifiable: among the fruits stand out bunches of grapes, peaches, plums, pomegranates, cherries, sometimes melons; among the flowers, often collected in large monumental vases, you can admire delicate roses, soft peonies, carnations and tulips. The architectural and decorative elements, among which the gadrooned vases and porcelains stand out, refer to the great models of the French tradition, in the taste of the Louis XV style. Rapos interprets Piedmontese Rococo taste with grace and decorative lightness, demonstrating knowledge of the French still life painters of the eighteenth century, such as Jean-Baptiste Blain de Fontenay, François de Cuvilliés and Alexandre-François Desporte. The three works, originally conceived as overdoors, are very decorative and extremely pleasant, whether exhibited side by side or, possibly, individually in different environments. The paintings, in good condition, have modern relining.