Physical description
Roses, azaleas, tulips and wild flowers arranged in a transparent vase on a table, against a dark neutral background.
Place of Origin
Paris, France (possibly, painted)
Date
1864 (painted)
Artist/maker
Fantin-Latour, Henri, born 1836 - died 1904 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
oil on canvas
Marks and inscriptions
'Fantin - 1864'
Dimensions
Height: 49 cm estimate, Width: 44 cm estimate
Object history note
Bought from the artist in July 1864 (with CAI. 129) for 500 francs (ca.£20) by Constantine Alexander Ionides; November 1881 listed in his inventory (private collection), as one of three paintings of 'Flowers' by Fantin Latour (the others being CAI.129 and CAI.130), each valued at £40; Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides, 1900.
Historical significance: This painting is a characteristic example of Fantin-Latour's early flower paintings. It shows a composition of different flowers harmoniously arranged in a simple vase on a table, probably set in a domestic interior.
This picture draws the attention onto the contrast between light and shade, the brilliant colours of the flowers against the formless plain background. The artist shows here sensitivity for the rendering of different textures: tulips, azaleas, roses and more rustic flowers alternate in an explosion of tones and colours. It is very close in composition to another painting of the same date also in the museum’s collection (CAI.129).
This is one of 8 paintings brought to London by Fantin on his third visit in July 1864.
Thanks to his friendship with James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), whom he met in 1858, Fantin-Latour was introduced to British collectors such as Alexander Ionides and his son Constantine, who bought two other still life paintings by the artist (CAI.129 and CAI.130).
Although this painting was painted in France, London was the principal market for Fantin-Latour's flower pieces, and in 1871 the amateur etcher and dealer Edwin Edwards purchased all of the painter's stock for sale in England.
The Ionides bequest of 1901 doubled the size of the museum's collection of flower pieces by Fantin-Latour, which already included three painting acquired in 1882, 1884 and 1889 from Mrs Ruth Edwards, the widow of Edwin Edwards (see S.Ex.61-1882, S.Ex.24-1884 and S.Ex.4-1889).
The Barbizon school encouraged a new interest in naturalism and the objective rendering of light and colours, which was continued by the Impressionists. However, Fantin-Latour did not share their enthusiasm for open air painting and most of his compositions were executed in his studio.
Historical context note
19th-century French art is marked by a succession of movements based on a more or less close relationship with nature. At the beginning of the century, Romantic artists were fascinated by nature they interpreted as a mirror of the mind. They investigated human nature and personality, the folk culture, the national and ethnic origins, the medieval era, the exotic, the remote, the mysterious and the occult. This movement was heralded in France by such painter as Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). In its opposition to academic art and its demand for a modern style Realism continued the aims of the Romantics. They assumed that reality could be perceived without distortion or idealization, and sought after a mean to combine the perception of the individual with objectivity. This reaction in French painting against the Grand Manner is well represented by Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) who wrote a 'Manifesto of Realism', entitled Le Réalisme published in Paris in 1855. These ideas were challenged by the group of the Barbizon painters, who formed a recognizable school from the early 1830s to the 1870s and developed a free, broad and rough technique. They were mainly concerned by landscape painting and the rendering of light. The works of Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña (1807-1876), Jules Dupré (1811-1889), Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867), Constant Troyon (1810-1865) and Jean-François Millet (1814-1875) anticipate somehow the plein-air landscapes of the Impressionists.
Descriptive line
Oil painting, 'Flowers: Tulips, Azaleas, Roses', Henri Fantin-Latour, 1864
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Kauffmann, C.M., Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, II. 1800-1900, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, p. 36, cat. no. 78.
The following is the full text of the entry:
Ignace-Henri-Jean-Théodore FANTIN-LATOUR (1836-1904)
French School
Born at Grenoble, he was a pupil of his father, Théodore, who settled in Paris in 1841, and then studied under Lecocq de Boisbaudran (1851-c. 1854), at the École des Beaux-Arts (1854) and in Courbet's Studio (1862). From 1861 he exhibited regularly in the Salon. He visited England in 1859, 1861, 1864, and 1881 and exhibited at the R. A. 1862-1900. He painted portraits and allegorical and mythological subjects as well as the flower pieces upon which his reputation in England largely rested.
Lit. Mme Fantin-Latour, Catalogue de l'oeuvre complet de Fantin-Latour, 1911.
78
FLOWERS: TULIPS, AZALEAS, ROSES ETC.
Signed and dated lower left Fantin - 1864
Canvas
19 ¼ x 17 3/8 (49 x 44)
Ionides Bequest
CAI.128
This and CAI.129 (no. 79) are good examples of Fantin's early flower pieces. He was in England in 1864 and the Ionides family were among his most important English patrons at this period.
Prov. Bought by Constantine Alexander Ionides from the artist; bequeathed to the Museum in 1900.
Lit. Mme Fantin-Latour, Oeuvre cat., 1911, p. 34, no. 244; F. Gibson, The art of Henri Fantin-Latour, [1924], pp. 112,226; Long, Cat. Ionides Coll., 1925, p. 24, pl. 14; Connoisseur, lxxxviii, 1931, p. 118, repr.
V. Dubourg Fantin-Latour, Catalogue de l'oeuvre complet (1849-1904) Paris, 1911, p. 34, no. 244.
Reprint 1969.
F. Gibson, The Art of Henri Fantin-Latour: his life and work, London, 1924, pp. 112, 226.
B.S. Long, Catalogue of the Constantine Alexander Ionides collection. Vol. 1, Paintings in oil, tempera and water-colour, together with certain of the drawings, London, 1925, p. 24, pl. 14.
Connoisseur, lxxxviii, 1931, p. 118, repr.
Andrew Watson, 'Constantine Ionides and his Collection of 19th-Century French Art', Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History , vol. 3, 1998, pp.25-31 -cf. p.68, nn.5,6.
Materials
Oil paint; Canvas
Techniques
Oil painting
Subjects depicted
Flowers; Roses; Vase; Table; Tulips; Still life; Azaleas
Categories
Paintings; Gardens & Gardening
Collection code
PDP
