Ancient Painting From 1600 Flemish School

Oil on canvas "Still life with flowers and fruits decorated with putto".

Guillaume Courtois. Flemish school. Period: 17th century Dimensions: +/- 87x103 cm.

Guillaume Courtois was born in Saint-Hippolyte (County of Burgundy), in modern-day France, the son of the obscure painter Jean-Pierre Courtois. Very little is known about Guillaume's youth, but it is assumed that he received his early training from his father. His father and his sons went to Italy around 1636 when Guillaume was still a child. They traveled to Milan, Bologna, Venice, Florence and Siena. The movements of the Courtois brothers are not very well documented, which has led to alternative theories. It is possible that Guillaume Courtois settled in Rome in 1638 where he entered the studio of Pietro da Cortona. Here he would complete his training by drawing from life and copying works by Giovanni Lanfranco and Andrea Sacchi. He also studied the Bolognese painters and Guercino, and formed a classicizing style with very little expressed mannerism, partly resembling that of Carlo Maratta. Another view of the brothers' movements that has gained support from modern scholars is that Guillaume and Jacques remained together until the late 1640s and that Guillaume Courtois only came under the influence of da Cortona when he worked under him in 1656. Guillaume Courtois spent much of his active life in Rome where he died of gout on 14 or 15 June 1679. Guillaume Courtois was primarily a history painter of Christian religious and mythological scenes. He was also in demand as a staff painter. He is sometimes referred to as a battle painter for his involvement in the decorative project in the chapel of the Jesuit Congregation, a small oratory housed in a room of the Roman College adjacent to the Church of Sant'Ignazio, in Rome. This was a collaborative effort by brothers Guillaume and Jacques. It is now established that Jacques - who was a specialist in battle scenes - painted the battles on the backgrounds. Guillaume painted scenes depicting victories attributed to the intervention of the Virgin: Heraclius defeating the armies of Chosroes, Saint Pulcheria, The triumph of Emperor Zimisches, The battle of Louis IX of France, and Julian the Apostate pierced by Saint Mercury. Guillaume Courtois's early drawings depict battle scenes and show that he was initially influenced by his brother. He also produced some portraits and collaborated with other artists on genre paintings. In addition to frequent collaborations with his brother Jacques, there are numerous collaborations between Guillaume Courtois and Abraham Brueghel, a Flemish still life painter active in Rome. An example is the Still Life of Fruit and Flowers with a Figure (sold at Sotheby's on 29 January 2015 in New York, lot 302). The still life was painted by Brueghel while Courtois painted the figure. The painting is a variant of the Grapes and Pomegranate with Vase of Flowers and Female Figure (private collection), dated to the late 1660s. Courtois captured the charming female figure in his Fruit Picker