Adèle Riché  (French, 1791-1887)
Musa Coccinea, Scarlet Banana (?)
Watercolor and pencil on paper
Signed ‘Adele Riche’ lower left
Paper size: 17 1/2 x 12
Frame size: 27 3/4 x 22 in.

ADÈLE RICHÉ  (FRENCH, 1791-1887)

Riché was born and lived her life in France.  She was the daughter of the head gardener at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. And thus, had an opportunity to train under Jan Frans van Dael and Gerard van Spaendonck.

Riché worked primarily in watercolor, and her subject of choice was often portraits of women, flowers, or fruit.  Her portraits were often done in oil, the stylistic preference of the times, whereas her fruit and still life pieces in watercolor. She died in Fontainebleau, France in 1878.