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Antique French Paintings

About this collection

French painting, from the court portrait of the old monarchy to the Barbizon landscape of the 19th century, is presented here as antique French oil paintings sourced in France and shipped from our gallery.

The 18th century gave French painting its portraits of powdered sitters, lace and silk set against dark grounds. The 19th turned to the countryside, to harvest fields, heaths, flocks and the edge of the forest, painted more and more in the open air. Many of the works here are signed, and many are still in their period frames, whether they hang in a dining room or a library. To see how French painters took their easels outdoors, read our guide to the Barbizon School.

-10%Antique portrait of a lady with a pink ribbon hat, 18th century French oil on canvas, gilt frame

French School, 18th century

Lady in a Lace Cap
$4,900$4,400
Two King Charles spaniels in a dark landscape, 18th century French oil on panel in an ebonized frame

French School, 18th century

Two King Charles Spaniels, 1700s
$6,900
French oil on canvas of fishing boats moored in a harbour, in a gilt frame with carved corner ornaments

French School, early 20th century

Fishing Boats in a Harbor
$1,900
Sunset landscape with a shepherd and his flock in silhouette against an orange sun, in a silvered moulded frame (Etienne Mein)

Etienne Mein (1865-1938)

Oedipus and Antigone at Sunset
$3,800Signed

Guides · before you buy

Collecting 18th-Century French PortraitsEveryone who mattered in eighteenth-century France needed to be painted, and the great portraitists ran workshops to meet the demand.Read the guideWhat a Genre Scene Was Really SayingBefore 1800 the everyday was a vehicle.Read the guide
Fruit picking in a summer garden, signed oil on canvas by Sinicki in thick impasto, 20th century French school, in a gilt frame

R. Sinicki, French School, 20th century

Fruit Picking in a Garden
$3,600Signed
Paris street scene between tall buildings, signed oil on canvas by Georges Berger dated 1975

Georges Berger (1908-1976)

Street Scene with Figures, 1975
$1,800Signed
Signed winter snow landscape by Alfred Andrieux with mountains, French oil on panel, carved gilt frame

Alfred Louis Andrieux (1879-1945)

Snowy Landscape, 1900s
$1,800Signed
An oval lake landscape titled Lake District, signed oil on canvas by Iris Raquin, 1964, in a gilt frame with a grey linen mount

Iris Raquin (1911-1997)

Lake District, 1964
$1,900Signed
Sunset over the rocky Esterel coast, French Impressionist oil on cardboard, early 20th century, in a carved gilt frame

Herve Le Loup de Sainville (1861-1930)

Esterel Coast at Sunset, 1900s
$3,400Signed
Unsigned French oil on panel of a shepherd driving his flock through bare trees, in a carved giltwood frame

French School, early 20th century

Shepherd and Flock, 1900s
$1,900
Eliezer offering the gold bracelet to Rebecca at the well, a dozen women with water jars before Roman architecture, oil on canvas after Nicolas Poussin

French School, circa 1800

Eliezer and Rebecca at the Well
$4,700
Antique 18th century French portrait of a gentleman with a lace jabot and a pink carnation, oil on canvas in a gilt frame

French School, mid 18th century

Gentleman with a Carnation
$5,800
Two roses in lilac and cream on vellum, a 19th century French botanical study in a moulded gilt frame

French School, 19th century

White and Purple Roses, 1800s
$5,600
Two tigers resting before a dark rock at dusk, mid 19th century French oil on canvas in a gilt frame

French School, mid-19th century

Two Tigers in a Landscape, 1800s
$12,000
Signed Adolphe-Félix Cals landscape of sheaves in a stubble field, oil on canvas, 19th century French school, in a gilt frame with flower corners

Adolphe-Félix Cals (1810-1880)

Haystacks in a Stubble Field
$8,900Signed
Portrait of a gentleman in a powdered wig, French School oil on canvas, late 18th century, sold unframed

French School, late 18th century

Gentleman in a Powdered Wig
$3,300
Two white spitz dogs, an adult and a puppy, 19th century French oil on canvas in a gilt frame

French School, 19th century

Two White Spitz Dogs, 1800s
$2,700
Seventeenth century French oil of Saint John the Baptist as a child holding the lamb and the reed cross, in a carved oval giltwood frame

French School, 17th century

Saint John with the Lamb, 1600s
$6,300
Portrait of a gentleman in a red coat with a white stock and lace jabot, oil on canvas, 18th century French school, unframed

French School, 18th century

Gentleman in a Red Coat, 1700s
$2,800
Young man in a dark coat and high white cravat against a grey ground, small early nineteenth century French oil portrait in its original gilt bead frame

French School, early 19th century

Young Man in a High Stock
$1,900
Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well, French School oil on canvas, 18th century, sold unframed

French School, 18th century

The Samaritan Woman, 1700s
$4,830
Antique French oil on wood panel, a gallant scene with Cupid in a formal garden, in moulded frame

French School, late 17th century

Gallant Couple in a Garden
$4,800
A fortune teller takes a young woman's hand while a boy lifts her purse, French genre scene, oil on canvas, 18th century

French School, 18th century

The Fortune Teller, 1700s
$5,785
Signed oil study by Marcellin Desboutin of a laughing boy in a working shirt, in a gilt wood frame

Marcellin Desboutin (1823-1902)

Laughing Boy
$4,900Signed

GalerieClub Fine Art

1,100+

paintings sold since 2017

Poppy Fields, late 1800sSold Poppy Fields, late 1800s Hagar and Ishmael, 1700sSold Hagar and Ishmael, 1700s Penitent Magdalene, 1600sSold Penitent Magdalene, 1600s

Our promise

  • Every painting photographed front and back
  • The frame you see is the frame that ships
  • Free tracked UPS Express Saver to the US

New paintings, by email

A note when new paintings come in. Nothing else.

Elsewhere in the gallery

Antique French oil paintings

Bought in France and painted there more than a century ago, these are authentic French oil paintings by listed artists and by anonymous hands, on canvas, panel and board, many of them still in the frames they were given.

  • Clothes date a sitter before any signature does. A French School oil painting of the 1700s shows the powdered wig and the lace cap of the old monarchy. The high stock of the years after the Revolution follows, then the pearl necklaces and silk caps of the 1800s, and the gentleman painted with his gun and his dog.

  • When painters in France took the easel outdoors in the 1800s, they found their subject in the fields and woods around them. A French landscape oil painting of that century may hold a stubble field with its haystacks, a heath in flower, a farmyard under a blossoming tree or a girl with her turkeys at the edge of the wood. Those painted in the manner of the forest school gather on the page of the Barbizon School. The sea is here too, from a fire on the shore at night to harbors and lagoons painted plein air in the early 1900s.

  • Beside portraits and landscapes, the collection holds religious scenes and allegories of the seasons, genre scenes, still lifes of flowers and fruit, views of Paris and animal pictures, from a pair of tigers to a huntsman with his hounds. Almost every work here is an original French oil painting, many of them signed, and none of them is a print.