Lot 26
HENRI FANTIN-LATOUR(1836-1904)Pivoines et boules de neige
14 December 2023, 17:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$216,400 inc. premium
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Cataloguer
HENRI FANTIN-LATOUR (1836-1904)
Pivoines et boules de neige
signed and dated 'Fantin 78' (upper right)
oil on canvas
17 5/16 x 13 7/8 in (44 x 35.3 cm)
Painted in 1878
亨利·方汀·拉圖爾 (1836-1904)
《牡丹與白繡球瓶花》
簽名及日期: 'Fantin 78' (右上)
油彩 畫布
17 5/16 x 13 7/8 英吋 (44 x 35.3 公分)
作於1878年
signed and dated 'Fantin 78' (upper right)
oil on canvas
17 5/16 x 13 7/8 in (44 x 35.3 cm)
Painted in 1878
亨利·方汀·拉圖爾 (1836-1904)
《牡丹與白繡球瓶花》
簽名及日期: 'Fantin 78' (右上)
油彩 畫布
17 5/16 x 13 7/8 英吋 (44 x 35.3 公分)
作於1878年
Footnotes
The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Brame & Lorenceau. This work will be included in the forthcoming Henri Fantin-Latour Catalogue raisonné des peintures et pastels, currently being prepared.
Provenance
Alexander Reid, Glasgow; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 10, 1898, lot 28.
Ruth Edwards Collection, London.
E.J. van Wisselingh & Co., Amsterdam.
Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York.
Pamela Woolworth Combemarle Collection, New York; her sale, Christie's, London, November 27, 1964, lot 38.
Arthur Tooth & Sons, London (acquired at the above sale).
Sale: Sotheby's, London, April 21, 1971, lot 6.
Frost & Reed Ltd., London (acquired at the above sale).
Michael F. Drinkhouse Collection, New York; his sale, Sotheby's, New York, May 17, 1978, lot 6.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.
Exhibited
Amsterdam, E.J. van Wisselingh & Co., Cent ans de peinture française, April 16 – May 5, 1928, no. 29 (titled 'Fleurs Diverses' and dated 1872).
London, Frost & Reed Gallery Ltd. and Christopher Wade, A Collection of Twenty-One Important Paintings, 1973, no. 6.
Literature
V. Fantin-Latour, Catalogue de l'oeuvre complet de Fantin-Latour, Paris, 1911, no. 892.
M. Verrier, Fantin-Latour, Paris, 1978, p. 35 (illustrated).
By the 1860s, still life painting became increasingly important to Henri Fantin-Latour's oeuvre as he shifted away from portraiture to accommodate a growing English market. The popularity of the artist's floral arrangements across Victorian audiences was in large part to the patronage of the affluent English couple Edwin and Ruth Edwards. The couple quickly became the artist's greatest patrons of still lifes, buying his work in large quantities and encouraging many of their friends, such as fellow artist James McNeil Whistler, to do the same. Even after her husband's death in 1879, Ruth continued to support the artist, as is the case with the present work.
Not only did these floral subjects provide the artist with financial success, but they also provided a means to hone his sense of color and composition. Unlike the complicated, large scale floral compositions most painters employed to show off their skills, Fantin-Latour preferred to work with simple arrangements that allowed him to focus his attention to the composition of each individual blossom, a quality which his English collectors particularly appreciated. Indeed, the present work showcases the artists ability to capture the delicate details of each individual petal while also retaining the roundness and weight of the overall bloom themselves. The symphony of white is contrasted perfectly by the bright background, setting off the intricate shading to the densely layered blossoms the artist so painstakingly painted.
This incredible eye for detail was developed during the artist's early years as a portrait painter. Such focused training allowed the artist to scrutinize each flower with remarkable specificity. According to Edward Lucie-Smith, "His belief, academic in origin, that technique in painting was separable from the subject to which the artist applied it, enabled him to see the blooms he painted not as botanical specimens, but as things which, though not necessarily significant in themselves, would generate significant art upon the canvas. At the same time, the naturalist bias of the milieu in which he had been brought up encouraged him to try and give a completely objective description of all the nuances of color and form which he saw in the bouquet he had arranged" (quoted in E. Lucie-Smith, Henri Fantin-Latour, New York, 1977, pp. 22-23).
