Vibrant French Still Life w/ Violin and Candelabrum By Marthe Lebasque - 29½" x 37"

This oil on canvas still life by Marthe Lebasque (French, 1901–1988), titled Still Life with Violins (Nature morte aux violons), was painted in France in the mid-20th century. The medium-scale composition sets a warm rose-colored curtain behind a richly patterned black-and-ivory textile. On the cloth rest a violin, a green glass carafe, a gilt three-light candelabrum, a polychrome domed coffer with floral ornament, and a delicate pair of white slippers. Bold, fluid outlines and saturated tones of coral, citron, and emerald create a lively decorative rhythm across the scene. The work is signed “Marthe Lebasque” at the lower left and is presented in a carved and gessoed wood frame with a linen liner.

Lebasque, the daughter of the renowned painter Henri Lebasque, was herself a French painter and sculptor who also sang as a soprano at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. She worked within the colorist tradition that followed Fauvism and the École de Paris. Her still lifes often favor theatrical drapery, arabesque contours, and luminous pigments, qualities that echo her stage background and sensibility as a performer. The presence of the violin, candelabrum, and ornate coffer here bridges the visual and musical arts, underscoring the harmony between her painterly vision and her life as a singer. In this work, the long French tradition of still life is reinterpreted, moving from vanitas reflection to a modern celebration of pattern, sound, color, and domestic culture in mid-century Paris.

This painting brings warmth and cadence to an interior, ideal above a console in an entryway or over a sideboard in a dining room, where candlelight and brass accents can resonate with the painted candelabrum. It is particularly suited to a music room or library, hung near a piano or a wall of scores, where its musical subject finds a natural setting.