Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (often referred to as ‘Baptist’ or ‘Old Baptist’) was the most influential flower painter of his generation, specializing in decorative compositions including elaborate vases. Born in Lille, in 1650 he was working on the interiors at the Hôtel Lambert, where he came to the attention of Charles Le Brun, the most powerful artist-impresario of the age. Through his influence, Monnoyer supplied designs at the Royal tapestry manufactories at Gobelins and Beauvais and paintings for major royal decorative schemes at Marly and Meudon. In 1685 Monnoyer was invited to England by the English Ambassador to France, 1st Duke of Montagu, to work on the decoration of Montagu House in London. He spent the rest of his life in England, also working for Queen Mary and Queen Anne at Kensington Palace. His son Antoine Monnoyer 1670-1747 (‘young Baptist’) continued to produce flower paintings in the same style. The Monnoyers were much imitated in France and England, which means that ‘Baptist’ is a name applied to any overdoor from the Baroque period with a flower in it. There were 21 works by ‘Monsieur Baptist’ amongst the Consul Smith Collection acquired by George III in 1762 (Italian List nos 185-205) and numerous works attributed to ‘old Baptist’ and ‘young Baptist’ in other inventories. Of these 20 remain in the Royal Collection. 

This is one of the 16 Consul Smith ‘Baptists’ still in the collection; 10 of them are described as ‘Young Baptist’ when hanging on the walls of Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace in 1785. They appear to be by the same artist, in the style of the Monnoyer dynasty, perhaps with something distinctive - acidic colour, somber tone and tangled profuse patterns. Consul Smith formed his collection in Venice during the period 1725-50, commissioning new and acquiring old in equal measure. He bought the Villa Mogliano in 1731 and the Palazzo Balbi in 1740; these groups of flower paintings may have been acquired at this time to decorate the walls of his newly acquired residences. It is possible that the 1785 inventory references are correct and that they were commissioned from Antoine Monnoyer; this is enough at least to justify a tentative attribution.

This is one of a set of four (Italian List nos 197-200), all of which retain their original Venetian panel frames. The second pair (RCIN 405179 and 404511) have fruit flowers and exotic animals in dramatic situations, against a landscape background. In this case a fox attacks a duck, a spaniel barks (in exactly the same posture as one in RCIN 407826) and a paroquet pecks at a lemon. In the centre there is a burst watermelon, bunches of black and white grapes, peaches and a halved lemon.