{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O80602"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O80602/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BC1385/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BC1385/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BC1385","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE1829","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O80602/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O80602","accessionNumber":"CAI.128","objectType":"Oil painting","titles":[{"title":"Flowers: Tulips, Azaleas, Roses","type":"popular title"},{"title":"Fleurs","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) was born in Grenoble and first trained with his father, Jean-Théodore Fantin-Latour (1805-75), and then with Horace Lecocq de Boisbaudran at the Petite Ecole de Dessin in Paris from 1850 to 1856. In 1861 he worked in Gustave Courbet's studio for several months as a pupil. After a period of portraiture, Fantin-Latour concentrated on flowers paintings and still-lifes for which he is now best known. His flower pieces were especially popular with British collectors, and he exhibited at the Royal Academy in London from 1862 onwards, especially thanks to the patronage of James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), whom he met in 1858.\r\n\r\nThis painting is a fine example of Fantin-Latour's early flower piece, a category in which he progressively specialised executing up to 500 floral compositions. This painting shows a bouquet of tulips, azaleas, roses and several rustic flowers in a vase on a table. The attention here is drawn on the rich combination of textures and tones, which contrast with the plain dark background. These effects of light and colour are characteristic of the new naturalism developed in French art in the second half of the 19th century, which anticipate the Impressionists' new experimentations.","physicalDescription":"Roses, azaleas, tulips and wild flowers arranged in a transparent vase on a table, against a dark neutral background.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Fantin-Latour, Henri","id":"A2611"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"oil paint","id":"AAT15050"},{"text":"canvas","id":"AAT14078"}],"techniques":[{"text":"oil painting","id":"AAT178684"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"oil on canvas","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Gardens & Gardening","id":"THES49002"}],"styles":[{"text":"French School","id":"x31263"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006BC1385","2017KE1829"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"81","id":"THES49713"},"free":"","case":"EAST WALL","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"oil paintings","id":"AAT33799"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":"possibly"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1864","earliest":"1864-01-01","latest":"1864-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"49","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"estimate","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"44","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"estimate","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from C.M. Kauffmann,<i>Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, II. 1800-1900</i>, London, 1973","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Fantin - 1864'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Signed and dated by the artist, lower left"}],"objectHistory":"Bought from the artist in July 1864 (with CAI. 129) for 500 francs (ca.£20) by Constantine Alexander Ionides; November 1881 listed in his inventory (private  collection), as one of three paintings of  'Flowers' by Fantin Latour (the others being CAI.129 and CAI.130), each valued at £40; Bequeathed by  Constantine Alexander Ionides, 1900.\n\nHistorical significance: This painting is a characteristic example of Fantin-Latour's early flower paintings. It shows a composition of different flowers harmoniously arranged in a simple vase on a table, probably set in a domestic interior. \r\nThis picture draws the attention onto the contrast between light and shade, the brilliant colours of the flowers against the formless plain background. The artist shows here sensitivity for the rendering of different textures: tulips, azaleas, roses and more rustic flowers alternate in an explosion of tones and colours. It is very close in composition to another painting of the same date also in the museum’s collection (CAI.129).\n\r\nThis is one of 8 paintings brought to London by Fantin on his third visit in July 1864. \n\r\nThanks to his friendship with James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), whom he met in 1858, Fantin-Latour was introduced to British collectors such as Alexander Ionides and his son Constantine, who bought two other still life paintings by the artist (CAI.129 and CAI.130).\n\nAlthough this painting was painted in France, London was the principal market for Fantin-Latour's flower pieces, and in 1871 the amateur etcher and dealer Edwin Edwards purchased all of the painter's stock for sale in England. \n\r\nThe Ionides bequest of 1901 doubled the size of the museum's collection of flower pieces by Fantin-Latour, which already included three painting acquired in 1882, 1884 and 1889 from Mrs Ruth Edwards, the widow of Edwin Edwards (see S.Ex.61-1882, S.Ex.24-1884 and S.Ex.4-1889). \n\r\nThe Barbizon school encouraged a new interest in naturalism and the objective rendering of light and colours, which was continued by the Impressionists. However, Fantin-Latour did not share their enthusiasm for open air painting and most of his compositions were executed in his studio.","historicalContext":"19th-century French art is marked by a succession of movements based on a more or less close relationship with nature. At the beginning of the century, Romantic artists were fascinated by nature they interpreted as a mirror of the mind. They investigated human nature and personality, the folk culture, the national and ethnic origins, the medieval era, the exotic, the remote, the mysterious and the occult. This movement was heralded in France by such painter as Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). In its opposition to academic art and its demand for a modern style Realism continued the aims of the Romantics. They assumed that reality could be perceived without distortion or idealization, and sought after a mean to combine the perception of the individual with objectivity. This reaction in French painting against the Grand Manner is well represented by Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) who wrote a 'Manifesto of Realism', entitled <i>Le Réalisme</i> published in Paris in 1855. These ideas were challenged by the group of the Barbizon painters, who formed a recognizable school from the early 1830s to the 1870s and developed a free, broad and rough technique. They were mainly concerned by landscape painting and the rendering of light. The works of Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña (1807-1876), Jules Dupré (1811-1889), Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867), Constant Troyon (1810-1865) and Jean-François Millet (1814-1875) anticipate somehow  the <i>plein-air</i> landscapes of the Impressionists.","briefDescription":"Oil painting, 'Flowers: Tulips, Azaleas, Roses', Henri Fantin-Latour, 1864","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Kauffmann, C.M., <u>Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, II. 1800-1900</u>, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, p. 36, cat. no. 78."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"V. Dubourg Fantin-Latour, <u>Catalogue de l'oeuvre complet (1849-1904)</u> Paris, 1911, p. 34, no. 244."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"F. Gibson, <u>The Art of Henri Fantin-Latour: his life and work</u>, London, 1924, pp. 112, 226."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"B.S. Long, <u>Catalogue of the Constantine Alexander Ionides collection. Vol. 1, Paintings in oil, tempera and water-colour, together with certain of the drawings,</u> London, 1925,  p. 24, pl. 14."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Connoisseur,</u> lxxxviii, 1931, p. 118, repr."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"D. Druick & M. Hoog, <u>Fantin-Latour</u>, exhibition catalogue, Ottawa 1983, pp. 116 &124","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Andrew Watson, 'Constantine Ionides and his Collection of 19th-Century French Art', <u>Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History </u>, vol. 3, 1998, pp.25-31 -cf. p.68, nn.5,6."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Flowers","id":"x35571"},{"text":"tulips","id":"x35467"},{"text":"azaleas","id":"x31409"},{"text":"roses","id":"x34733"},{"text":"vase","id":"AAT132254"},{"text":"table","id":"x31811"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"Still-life","id":"x35544"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["CAI.128"],"accessionNumberNum":"128","accessionNumberPrefix":"CAI","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-19","recordCreationDate":"2003-05-09","availableToBook":false}}