Anne Vallayer-Coster (1744-1818) was one of the most talented still-life painters of the French school. Her exquisite paintings, today located in some of the world's finest museums, were admired and collected by many of her contemporaries, including Marie Antoinette, who became the artist's most important patron. This illustrated volume is devoted to Vallayer-Coster. It presents an array of the artist's still-life works, along with three royal portraits from the collection of Versailles and a pastel of Marie Antoinette. The authors draw on research to examine Vallayer-Coster's relationship with landscape painter Joseph Vernet; her response to her immediate predecessor, still-life painter Jean-Simeon Chardin; her role with contemporary collectors of her art; and her place in the larger context of the 18th-century art world. The work also includes archival and conservation findings and an illustrated index of extant paintings by Vallayer-Coster.