3214 - HENRI-THÉODORE FANTIN-LATOUR

HENRI-THÉODORE FANTIN-LATOUR (Grenoble 1836–1904 Buré) Bouquet of Flowers. 1889. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated upper right: Fantin. 89. 51.1 × 62.2 cm. Provenance: - Ruth Edwards, London, acquired from the artist. - Galerie F. & J. Tempelaere, Paris. - Alexander Reid, Glasgow. - John Stewart of Renfrew, Greenock, Scotland. - Alex Reid & Lefevre, London, 1951. - Mary Woodard Lasker (widow of Albert D. Lasker), New York, until 1953. - Alice Woodard Fordyce, New York, inherited from the above. - Auction at Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc., New York, May 19, 1966, lot 7. - The Lefevre Gallery and Marlborough Fine Art, London, 1966. - Sir Alfred Lane Beit, Russborough House, Blessington, Ireland (label on the reverse). - Auction at Sotheby’s London, April 4, 1989, lot 29. - Richard Green Gallery, London (label on the reverse). - Shigeki Kameyama, Tokyo, 1989. - Christie’s auction, New York, November 8, 2000, lot 11. - Richard Green Gallery, London. - Private collection, USA. - Private collection, England. Exhibited: - Exhibited: Glasgow 1950, Fantin-Latour, Ian McNicol Galleries, no. 10. - Dallas 1953, An Exhibition of 69 Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. Albert D. Lasker, Museum of Fine Arts, March 6–29, 1953, no. 33. - Paris/Ottawa/San Francisco 1982/83, Fantin-Latour, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, November 9, 1982–February 7, 1983/National Gallery of Canada, March 17–May 22, 1983/California Palace of the Legion of Honor, June 18–September 6, 1983, no. 104 (labels on the reverse). Bibliography: - Madame Fantin-Latour: *Catalogue de l’œuvre complet de Fantin-Latour*, Paris 1911, p. 144, no. 1374. - Wallace Brockway and Alfred Frankfurter: The Albert D. Lasker Collection. Renoir to Matisse, New York 1957, p. 19 (ill.). - The Burlington Magazine, vol. 93, no. 585, December 1951, plate XIX (ill.). This painting will be included by Galerie Brame & Lorenceau in the catalogue raisonné currently in preparation. Painted in 1889, “Bouquet de fleurs” is among the important floral still lifes that brought Fantin-Latour international recognition during his lifetime. The magnificent arrangement brings together a wealth of different flowers, including lush roses, hollyhocks, delicate clematis, love-in-a-mist, and mallows. The sophisticated arrangement of the blossoms and the precise balance of their subtle colors create a composition of remarkable vitality and elegance. The warm, golden-brown background enhances the luminosity of the flowers and lends the painting a tranquil, intimate atmosphere. The horizontal tabletop anchors the arrangement in space, while subtle gradations of light and shadow create a sense of depth. Fantin-Latour’s masterful handling of light brings out the brilliance of the blossoms, accentuates their delicate shades, and gives their varied surfaces a sculptural presence. Floral still lifes remained central to Fantin-Latour’s work for decades. Unlike the seventeenth-century Dutch still-life painters, who assembled imaginary bouquets from flowers belonging to different seasons, Fantin-Latour painted what was actually before him. His approach began with direct observation: he first prepared the canvas with a neutral ground and allowed it to dry, then arranged the chosen flowers in his studio the following day. The garden of the country estate at Buré in Normandy, inherited by his wife Victoria Dubourg in 1880, provided Fantin-Latour with an almost inexhaustible variety of subjects. He explored different flower shapes, shades, and compositional arrangements, as the present “Bouquet de fleurs” demonstrates particularly vividly. Fantin-Latour maintained close relationships with numerous artists who gathered around Édouard Manet during the 1860s. In 1863, he took part in the Salon des Refusés, exhibiting alongside artists such as Édouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, and Paul Cézanne. His celebrated group portrait *Un atelier aux Batignolles* from 1870, now in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, pays a striking tribute to this emerging generation of artists. It depicts Manet at his easel, surrounded by figures including Monet, Renoir, and Zola. Despite these close ties, Fantin-Latour retained his artistic independence. He declined to participate in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 and remained loyal to the official Salon. While his Impressionist contemporaries sought to capture the fleeting effects of changing light outdoors, he preferred the concentrated stillness of the studio for his flower paintings. Fantin-Latour made the beauty of nature itself the subject of his painting, without needing to imbue it with symbolic meaning. His floral still lifes attracted an enthusiastic following among English collectors from an early stage. Edwin and Ruth Edwards played a decisive role in this, having met Fantin-Latour through James McNeill Whistler and helped introduce his work to collectors in Britain. The present painting is directly connected to this history: Ruth Edwards acquired it from the a