Théodule RIBOT (Saint-Nicolas-d'Attez, 1823 - Colombes, 1891) Composition with Bottle, Copper Coin and Quarter of Beef Oil on canvas (Original canvas) Signed 'T. Ribot' lower left Canvas by Félix Gérard (Restorations) In its original wood and gilded stucco frame Composition with a bottle, a copper coin and a quarter of beef, oil on canvas, signed, by T. Ribot 29.13 x 36.41 in. 74 x 92.5 cm Provenance: Private collection, South of France Théodule Ribot is one of those few artists who can be identified at first glance, so clearly does his art bear witness to an asserted and assumed identity. "If you think I do still life for the simple pleasure of portraying a rib of beef, an apple or a fish, you're mistaken. What I see as precious is the infinite variety that the diversity of materials provides". Our painting follows this logic, as explained by the artist: a dark background, objects and foodstuffs placed randomly on a barely visible entablature, all in the service of prodigious effects of light and matter, as if taken directly from Tenebrism and the Spanish bodegones of the 17th century. Our painting is therefore a perfect example of Ribot's work, which made his name from 1861 and his first successes at the Salon, from which he established himself with the general public as the great painter of kitchens and still lifes in the second half of the nineteenth century. Théodule RIBOT (Saint-Nicolas-d'Attez, 1823 - Colombes, 1891) 74 x 92.5 cm