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PROPERTY FROM AN AMERICAN PRIVATE COLLECTION

1836-1904
CHRYSANTHÈMES

measurements
68.5 by 62.2cm.

alternate measurements
27 1/2 by 24in.

Painted in 1875.

signed Fantin and dated 1875 (upper left)

oil on canvas

To be included in the Fantin-Latour Catalogue raisonné being prepared by the Galerie Brame & Lorenceau.

PROVENANCE

Edwin Edwards, London
Obach & Co., London
M. Bonjean, France (acquired by 1906)
F. & J. Tempelaere, Paris
Van Gogh, Amsterdam
E. Heldring, Amsterdam (acquired by 1910)
Goudstikker, Amsterdam (1928)
M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., London
Private Collection (1956)
Acquired by the present owner in 1995

EXHIBITED

Paris, Palais de l'Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, L'~uvre d'Henri Fantin-Latour, 1906, no. 80 (titled Chrysanthèmes pompons)
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Tentoonstelling van Schilderijen en Aquarellen, 1910, no. 74

LITERATURE

Madame Fantin-Latour, Catalogue de l'~uvre complet de Fantin-Latour, Paris, 1911, no. 762, listed p. 82

NOTE

The present work is an outstanding example of Fantin-Latour's favourite subject, that of flowers depicted in a vase placed on a tabletop. The brightness of the artist's palette highlights the freshness of the flowers, which is further enhanced by contrast with the brown basket and the light, monochrome background. The precision with which he depicted his subject, paying attention to the texture and various colours of individual flowers, displays Fantin-Latour's virtuosity in capturing their ephemeral and fleeting beauty. This technique, which allows the artist to render differences in surface quality of various elements within the traditional genre of still-life, owes much to the Old Masters whose paintings he studied at the Louvre, particularly those by the eighteen-century master Chardin. Fantin-Latour was also influenced by the style of his friends from the Impressionist circle, and Douglas Druick compared his still-lifes with those executed by Edouard Manet:

'Fantin also has shown more interest than Manet in breaking away from the conventions of still-life composition. Where Manet, following tradition, has aligned the various objects on a buffet, parallel to the picture plane, Fantin has looked for an arrangement that, while controlled, suggests the randomness of nature [...] This successful compromise between order and disorder allowed Fantin the best of both worlds' (D. Druick in Fantin-Latour (exhibition catalogue), National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1983, p. 124). This truthfulness to nature is beautifully exemplified in the present work in the seemingly spontaneous arrangement of flowers in the vase. The versatility and endless possibilities offered by these flowers provided the artist with an infinite source of inspiration, and the present composition demonstrates the mastery and refinement that he reached in his mature work.