17th Century French Oil on Panel, Gallant Scene in a Garden, Old Master Baroque Original, Framed

The garden is a plan seen from above. The parterre at the lower right is drawn in flat geometry, beds and gravel and a fountain, while the couple beside it are painted in full relief. Two conventions in one picture.

Oil on wood panel, 23 x 18 inches (58 x 46 cm), 30 x 25 inches (76 x 64 cm) framed, unsigned. French School, late seventeenth century, in a moulded wooden frame with painted scrolling decoration.

A gentleman in a long grey coat sits at the left, a folded paper in one hand, and holds out a tulip toward a young woman in red beside him. Her hair is dressed in tight curls at the temples with a red ribbon, over a wide lace collar. A winged Cupid stands at their feet with a wreath in his hands and a basket of flowers at his side. Behind them a brick tower with a lantern rises against a pale sky, and the ground falls away to a wooded valley with cottages, a boat on the water and a distant range of hills. The parterre closes the composition at the lower right.

The frame is a moulded wooden profile with painted scrolling decoration on a dark ground.

The panel is sound on its battens. The joint between the two boards is open along its length, with paint loss along the line and the red ground showing through. A fine age craquelure runs across the whole surface, and the frame has gaps at the mitres.