Lady with Basket filled with Fruits

Louis Marie Autissier was born in France but went to Belgium at an early age where he settled down and became a successful painter. This picture is a so-called "type portrait", a portrait showing typical figures from everyday life in an representation idealized by allegoric decoration. The sitter in this miniature from the Tansey Collection - a sitter whom Autissier painted several times¹ - carries a fruit basket over her arm and is placed before a partly dilapidated wall. These elements form a symbolism reminding of the Vanitas pictures in Dutch Baroque painting which Autissier had got to know in Belgium and during his journeys through the Netherlands.² The contemplative representation is emphasized by the autumnal colour palette. Autissier reproduced the different materials with great naturalism: the soft peach strongly contrasts with the hard peel of the pear while the heavy fabrics contrast with the wickerwork. Autissier paid great attention to the details and created expressive pictures.
D. O.