Rare Arte Povera screen after Carle Vernet — Directoire / Consulat period

An exceptional and rare four-leaf screen presenting Arte Povera (or Lacca Povera) decoration on an antique-green lacquered ground. This piece constitutes a refined testimony to the taste of the Directoire period, marking the transition between the delicacy of the eighteenth century and the rigour of the First Empire. The decoration is composed of applied engravings after the works of Carle Vernet (1758–1836). One recognises the artist’s favoured themes: hunting scenes, genre scenes, and the neoclassical repertoire including winged caducei, quivers, torches and laurel wreaths. The Arte Povera technique consists of the meticulous application of engravings onto a painted support, the whole protected by numerous coats of resin varnish. The reverse of the screen is treated with equal care, presenting moulded panels painted in a tone of green. Late eighteenth / early nineteenth century.