Raisins secs et amandes piquées is both an outstanding as well as very beautiful work of art, one of great quality of the period of what might be termed French academic realism. Suzor-Coté’s compelling composition of raisins and almonds sits in a cleverly orchestrated play of sunlight against a darkened background. The impact of the painting is enhanced by the aesthetic effect of a technique  Suzor-Coté learned from one of his masters in Paris, Henri Harpignies. Professor Laurier Lacroix described how the artist  “[prepared] the ground of his paintings by applying the paint not in a smooth and uniform manner, but thickly and with an underlying energy which gave great energy to the surface colours.”[1]

It is noteworthy that the painting is inscribed with the title, his signature and the date ‘96 on the reverse in the elegant hand of Suzor.  

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Footnotes: 

[1] Laurier Lacroix, Suzor-Coté: Lumière et matière (Montréal: Éditions de L’Homme, 2002), 86.