When you see Anne Vallayer-Coster’s painting of plums at the Cleveland Museum of Art, it’s easy to see why Marie-Antoinette and Diderot admired it.

There is a poem by William Carlos Williams that I love because it is so selfish, honest, remorseful, and full of love. It comes in the form of nonchalant apologies (my favorite kind). His title, “This is just to say” sets the tone. The rest of the poem is a masterpiece of simplicity, comedy and conciseness. “I ate / the plums / that were in / the cooler / and that / you were probably / saving / for breakfast / forgive me / they were delicious / so sweet / and so cold.

But even more than the plum poems, I love the plum paintings. Plums this painting, by Anne Vallayer-Coster (1744-1818), did not come out of a cooler. But they emerge from the deep shadows and are related to the same sense of appetite and pleasure that emanates from Williams’ poem.

Vallayer-Coster was the daughter of a goldsmith who worked for the Gobelins tapestry factory in Paris. In 1770, the year following her painting, she was unanimously accepted as a member of the Académie Royale de France. Ten years later, she received the title of “Painter of the Queen” by Marie-Antoinette (who also personally signed, as a witness, Vallayer-Coster’s marriage contract with Jean-Pierre Coster, a wealthy lawyer and deputy).

Denis Diderot, philosopher and art critic, was also a great admirer. “No one in the French school can compete with the strength of [Vallayer-Coster’s] colors, ”he wrote in 1771,“ nor its simple surface finish. “

To see what Diderot signified by “simple surface finish,” at home on the plums in this painting, which is on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art. They couldn’t have looked more plum. Placing them against the deep but muted greens of the leaves and moss that protect them, Vallayer-Coster painted late summer stone fruits with rich reds before depositing patches of dark purple and mauve. cloudy.

The brushstrokes are clearly visible. They move in seemingly random directions, often leaving visible traces of brush hairs. There is only one bold white highlight. Vallayer-Coster also uses a touch of yellow in the center of the upper plum to accentuate the intensity of the red of this fruit.

Vallayer-Coster is often compared to Jean Baptiste Siméon Chardin, the greatest painter of still lifes of the 18th century. There is the same softness and sobriety in the work of the two artists. But the handling of Vallayer-Coster’s painting is so relaxed and fresh, so open to accidental effects, that it anticipates the loose handling of by Manet still lifes a century later.

The painting is just under two square feet. Its other characteristics are revealing. Vallayer-Coster could have added expensive crystal, pewter or porcelain. Instead, she gives us a simple glass of water. I have several like this in my closet. She creates an illusion of volume with just a few nonchalant highlights. Spots of color suggest reflections of plums and cakes.

These cakes, coiled in crispy oven paper, are crumbly, buttery, blond. I can almost smell them. It is quite simply so.

Life is good when there are plenty of them, yes. (Nobody wants to go in the cooler and find all the plums gone.) But for some reason, it’s even better when it’s simple, when it’s fresh. Vallayer-Coster’s painting shows us what it might look like.