Provenance
Possibly Ruth Edwards, London [see Alexandre 1930]. Emile Laffon, Paris (died 1931), by 1930 [see Alexandre 1930]. Wildenstein, New York, 1953 [according to Ah-Whang Hsia's telephone conversation of September 13, 2006, it was acquired from Laffon by Wildenstein along with a group of paintings by Fantin-Latour]; sold to Mrs. Albert D. Lasker, New York in January, 1954 [according to information from Wildenstein label on the reverse and confirmed by Ah-Whang Hsia, telephone conversation of September 13, 2006; the painting cannot be the "Bouquet de Fleurs," cat. 33 in An Exhibition of Sixty-nine Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. Albert D. Lasker, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, March 6-29, 1953]; passed to her stepdaughter and her husband, Mary and Leigh Block, Chicago probably after 1965 [it is included in a list of pictures in Mrs. Lasker's New York house from that year]; given to the Art Institute, 1988.
Accession Number
72180
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
48.2 × 59.7 cm (19 × 23 1/2 in.); Framed: 75.6 × 86.4 × 9.6 cm (29 3/4 × 34 × 3 3/4 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Credit Line
Gift of Mary and Leigh Block
Background & Context
Background Story
Henri Fantin-Latour's Still Life with Flowers (1881) is another floral still life from the artist's most productive period. Like the companion painting Roses in a Bowl, this work shows Fantin-Latour's mastery of the flower piece. The composition may feature a different arrangement or variety of flowers, perhaps incorporating other blooms alongside the roses. The technique is characteristically precise yet painterly, the flowers built through layers of translucent color that capture their individual character and the overall harmony of the bouquet. The background is typically dark, focusing attention on the flowers and their colors. Fantin-Latour's still lifes were not merely decorative; they were meditations on the beauty and transience of nature, the flowers captured at the peak of their bloom with the understanding that their beauty would soon fade.
Cultural Impact
Fantin-Latour's flower still lifes combine technical mastery with a poetic awareness of the transience of beauty, elevating the genre of floral painting to the level of philosophical meditation.
Why It Matters
This still life with flowers captures the delicate beauty of nature with extraordinary skill, the luminous colors and precise observation creating an image of floral beauty that is both accurate and deeply moving.
