Berthe Costadau
Nineteenth century
Circa 1890
An exceptional French flower painting by Berthe Costadau. This highly competent piece was exhibited at the Societie des Amis des Artes in Toulon.
She studied under Andre-Benoit Perrachon (1828 – 1909), one of the most important “Lyonese school” painters of the nineteenth century. Costadau exhibited in Lyon, from 1874 onwards and in 1899 received a silver medal for her exhibit of that year. In April 1906 she exhibited alongside Henry Oberkampf, Alex-Andre Baudin, Alphonse Muscat and other painters of the “Lyonese school”. A newspaper article dedicated to the exhibition described her flower painting as having “a lightness, grace and colour,” and even went as far as to declare her “the queen of flowers”.
The scale and workmanship of this painting is indicative of an exhibition piece.