Marius Engalière (1824-1857, Marseille), Still Life With Summer Fruits, Watercolor, Signed

Marius Engalière (1824-1857)
Still life with an ewer and summer fruits
14 x 9 cm
Watercolor and gouache, pen and brown ink
Signed and dedicated, lower left : "Engalière / à mon ami Roize"

Very good condition
Framed, with red wax seal on the back "BJ"

Very fine watercolor by one of the masters of painting in Marseille in the beginning of the 19th century, who died at just 32 years old. This small-format work on paper carries with it all the finesse of observation and execution of which Marius Engalière was capable, although he was best known during his lifetime for his landscape paintings.

It is a constantly renewed pleasure to watch how the fruits of the heart of summer, gorged with sugar and sun, are painted, as well as this beautiful ewer, certainly full of fresh and comforting water. It is with this same water that the painter diluted his pigments to bring out this serene, luminous and perfectly mastered still life. The way he exploits the reserve of the paper makes it possible to distinguish each grape, each plum, each peach. The freedom that the painter explores, with the tip of the brush, in the background of the work is just as delightful.

The painter signed and dedicated this work for his friend Roize. According to our research, it is most probably Charles Roize, famous costume designer in Marseille and supplier of the most beautiful theaters throughout France. The delicacy of this watercolor, painted in a small, confidential format, seems to reflect the artistic affinities between these two artists from Marseille. This perfectly preserved sheet can be dated in the 1840s.