Pierre Dupuys

Pierre Dupuis painted still lifes of fruit and flowers with a quiet, careful finish: plums with their bloom intact, grapes heaped in a basket, peaches set on a plain table edge. His pictures owe more to the Northern tradition than to the grand French manner, and sit close to the work of Jacques Linard and Louise Moillon.

He was born in Montfort-l’Amaury in 1610 and met Pierre Mignard in Italy in 1637. Back in France he was named painter to the royal stables in 1646 and was admitted to the Académie Royale in 1664. He died in Paris in 1682.

In Basket of Grapes and Plums and Peaches on a Table, look at how the light picks out the skin of each fruit against a dark ground.