Roses in a Bowl

Full-blown roses crowd a shallow ceramic bowl, their whites, pinks and reds set against a soft grey ground with the quiet exactness that made Fantin-Latour the most sought-after flower painter of his generation in England. Henri Fantin-Latour painted the small canvas in 1881, the year after his friend Manet’s death, when the still lifes that supported his career had reached their fullest delicacy: each petal is modelled in careful touches, the foliage and buds arranged with a studied naturalness that never becomes stiff. The picture, signed and dated lower right, passed through London dealers and the Bignou Gallery before being bought from Wildenstein in 1964 with funds provided by Mrs. Clive Runnells, its donor. The painting is held in the Art Institute of Chicago.