Jacques-Charles Oudry

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has probably not been restored for some time, but much of the existing restoration is nonetheless effective. The varnish seems to have bloomed slightly in the jar of fruits on the left side of the still life, and the retouches here have darkened over time and are now visible to the naked eye. The condition is reasonable within the still life itself, but the inside of the cantaloupe and the cut piece of cantaloupe in front of the basket are quite abraded. It is the background above the still life, on the ledge and around the hanging bunches of grapes that have attracted much retouching. These restorations are well-executed and the work need only be corrected in a few areas—along the bottom edge and the discolored retouches at lower left.
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Jean-Charles Oudry was the son of Jean-Baptiste Oudry, in whose studio he trained and worked.  He was received into the Academy in 1748 and exhibited regularly at the Salon up until 1761.  He spent part of his career in Brussels where he served as court painter to Prince Charles de Lorraine.  His body of work, mainly still lifes, games pieces and animals paintings, shows the marked influence of his father’s style.  Other large scale and impressive still lifes by the artist are to be found in the collection of the Musée Fabre, Montpellier and the Musée du Louvre, Paris.¹

 

1.  Trophies of the Hunt, signed and dated 1748, oil on canvas, 161 by 192 cm.; and Still Life of Dead Game, signed and dated 1762, oil on canvas, 142 by 98.5 cm. (R.R. 1942-9).