Flowers in a Vase

638
Flowers in a Vase
1862-64;
Henri Fantin-Latour

Fantin-Latour painted innumerable pictures of flowers, often flowers and fruit, to meet the demands of the Second Empire (1852-1870). These were years in which there was renewed interest in the French artistic tradition, especially in Chardin's still lifes, indeed interest in still life paintings renewed all over France. The subtle relation between light and shade in this bunch of flowers repays some of Latour's debt to Chardin and his intimistic approach to still life.