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拍品專文
Galerie Brame & Lorenceau have confirmed the authenticity of this painting and will included it in their forthcoming catalogue raisonné of paintings and pastels.
Arranged in artful disarray, the hollyhocks shown in Henri Fantin-Latour's sumptuous and symphonic Roses trémières of 1889 are either placed in a vase or scattered on the table surface. With their long stems, they thrust into various corners of the canvas, adding to the lavish appearance of these opulent blooms. The hollyhocks themselves appear to belong to a number of different varietals, yet have been arranged with great care in order to create a complex sense of harmony through the juxtaposition of the various red, pink and almost peach hues. These in turn are thrust into relief by their contrast with the backdrop.
Roses trémières displays the inexhaustible search for harmony that underpinned many of Fantin-Latour's most successful floral still life compositions; this helps to explain its extensive exhibition history and impressive provenance: it was shown the year after completion at the Royal Academy in London and, having been owned by Fantin-Latour's friend and agent, Ruth Edwards, soon jentered the collection of John Wheeldon Barnes; it subsequently passed through the hands of a number of preeminent art dealers and collectors including Albert D. Lasker, considered the father of modern advertising and the owner of a string of Impressionist and twentieth century masterpieces. Lasker's two daughters would respectively continue their father's tradition of collecting at the top level in a discerning way: one married Leigh B. Block, an American steel magnate, and the other married Sydney Brody. The Block and Brody collections respectively are historic in their own rights.
In its motif and its provenance, Roses trémières provides an intriguing insight into the relationship between Fantin-Latour and Great Britain. He had first visited England in 1859 and returned there many times. Several of his early experiences in Britain were thanks to the presence or introductions of his friend and fellow artist, James Abbott McNeill Whistler. In those early years of their friendship, Whistler and Fantin-Latour had both influenced each other; this may even be evident in the complex play of symphonic harmonies present in Roses trémières. It was through this contact with England that Fantin-Latour would meet Edwin Edwards and his wife Ruth. A lawyer and keen artist - while he primarily explored lithography, an oil painting of 16 London at the Thames by him is in the collection of the National Gallery - Edwards was sympathetic to Fantin-Latour's aesthetic ideas and personality, and soon became his agent in Great Britain, under arrangements that changed several times. After Edwin died in 1879, his wife Ruth continued this arrangement; she was the first owner of Roses trémières and doubtless arranged for it to be shown in the Royal Academy annual exhibition in 1890; she and her husband had both worked hard over the years to promote his works in public shows in Britain. There, it was one of a handful of such pictures by Fantin-Latour which were singled out by one reviewer because of the 'charm of brushwork which makes his numerous flower paintings... absolutely unrivalled' ('Royal Academy: Second Notice', The Observer, 11 May 1890, p. 5).
Fantin-Latour found that there was a great appetite for his flower paintings in Great Britain, and this led to his gaining an increasing amount of financial security through his sales there. From the late 1870s onwards, especially after his wife had inherited a house there, he would stay at Buré during the Summer, mainly painting floral still life compositions which would then be collected by Ruth Edwards from Paris. This was a continuation of a long history of collaboration: after the Franco-Prussian War, which Fantin-Latour had spent secluded in his home in Paris, pretending already to have escaped, Edwards had acquired all his output from the period. That had been a turning point for Fantin-Latour: amidst the chaos of war and the revolutionary ideas that followed in its wake, not least through the advocacy of his friend Gustave Courbet, Fantin-Latour found himself looking increasingly to the art of the past, to tradition and stability, rather than the more radical concepts being espoused by others of his generation. He was thus unable to bring himself to exhibit alongside the Impressionists at Nadar's in 1874, and indeed was disappointed by his friend Edouard Manet's continued involvement with them. It appears he may have helped to dissuade Manet from showing alongside them in 1874. Fantin-Latour's devotion to Manet remained undiminished: he was one of the pallbearers at his funeral, and in 1889, the year Roses trémières was painted, subscribed to the fund being accumulated to purchase Olympia for the state.
It was doubtless shortly after being exhibited at the Royal Academy that Roses trémières was acquired by John Wheeldon Barnes FSA. The manager of Backhouse's Bank in Durham, Barnes was an avid and noted collector of works on paper by a number of artists including J.M.W. Turner, and his collection had received the attention of an article in The Athenaeum in November 1875. Roses trémières was sold as a part of his estate in 1894, where it was purchased by Charles Obach, a Swiss dealer born in Stuttgart who worked with Goupil and Co. before founding his own firm, which would later merge with Colnaghi. By the time Roses trémières reappeared at auction in 1909, half a decade after the artist's death, it belonged to W. Robinson; it was bought at that sale by Tempelaere, who was in fact one of Fantin-Latour's dealers, having been introduced to him at the funeral of François Bonvin. It subsequently formed a part of the collection of Stephen Mitchell of Boquhan and was sold as part of his estate in 1933; it then passed through the hands of Sir Bernard Eckstein, the son of gold miner Sir Frederick Eckstein, and the nephew of Hermann Eckstein, who formed a partnership with Wernher and Beit and was considered one of the so-called 'Randlords' in South Africa. Sir Bernard Eckstein left a large number of objects to the British Museum and the National Gallery, while also having his estate posthumously disposed of in a series of dedicated auctions. Soon afterwards, it was owned by Albert D. Lasker, and was exhibited alongside other highlights from his collection in 1953; it was lent by Lasker to an exhibition of Fantin-Latour's works held at Smith College Museum of Fine Art in Northampton, Massachussetts in 1966. Roses trémières later entered the collection of the renowned hotel entrepreneur, Charles Forte, who made a fortune that began with a milk bar he established on Regent Street in London. Forte was knighted and later elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Forte; in addition, he amassed a formidable collection of pictures including over a dozen by L.S. Lowry.
Arranged in artful disarray, the hollyhocks shown in Henri Fantin-Latour's sumptuous and symphonic Roses trémières of 1889 are either placed in a vase or scattered on the table surface. With their long stems, they thrust into various corners of the canvas, adding to the lavish appearance of these opulent blooms. The hollyhocks themselves appear to belong to a number of different varietals, yet have been arranged with great care in order to create a complex sense of harmony through the juxtaposition of the various red, pink and almost peach hues. These in turn are thrust into relief by their contrast with the backdrop.
Roses trémières displays the inexhaustible search for harmony that underpinned many of Fantin-Latour's most successful floral still life compositions; this helps to explain its extensive exhibition history and impressive provenance: it was shown the year after completion at the Royal Academy in London and, having been owned by Fantin-Latour's friend and agent, Ruth Edwards, soon jentered the collection of John Wheeldon Barnes; it subsequently passed through the hands of a number of preeminent art dealers and collectors including Albert D. Lasker, considered the father of modern advertising and the owner of a string of Impressionist and twentieth century masterpieces. Lasker's two daughters would respectively continue their father's tradition of collecting at the top level in a discerning way: one married Leigh B. Block, an American steel magnate, and the other married Sydney Brody. The Block and Brody collections respectively are historic in their own rights.
In its motif and its provenance, Roses trémières provides an intriguing insight into the relationship between Fantin-Latour and Great Britain. He had first visited England in 1859 and returned there many times. Several of his early experiences in Britain were thanks to the presence or introductions of his friend and fellow artist, James Abbott McNeill Whistler. In those early years of their friendship, Whistler and Fantin-Latour had both influenced each other; this may even be evident in the complex play of symphonic harmonies present in Roses trémières. It was through this contact with England that Fantin-Latour would meet Edwin Edwards and his wife Ruth. A lawyer and keen artist - while he primarily explored lithography, an oil painting of 16 London at the Thames by him is in the collection of the National Gallery - Edwards was sympathetic to Fantin-Latour's aesthetic ideas and personality, and soon became his agent in Great Britain, under arrangements that changed several times. After Edwin died in 1879, his wife Ruth continued this arrangement; she was the first owner of Roses trémières and doubtless arranged for it to be shown in the Royal Academy annual exhibition in 1890; she and her husband had both worked hard over the years to promote his works in public shows in Britain. There, it was one of a handful of such pictures by Fantin-Latour which were singled out by one reviewer because of the 'charm of brushwork which makes his numerous flower paintings... absolutely unrivalled' ('Royal Academy: Second Notice', The Observer, 11 May 1890, p. 5).
Fantin-Latour found that there was a great appetite for his flower paintings in Great Britain, and this led to his gaining an increasing amount of financial security through his sales there. From the late 1870s onwards, especially after his wife had inherited a house there, he would stay at Buré during the Summer, mainly painting floral still life compositions which would then be collected by Ruth Edwards from Paris. This was a continuation of a long history of collaboration: after the Franco-Prussian War, which Fantin-Latour had spent secluded in his home in Paris, pretending already to have escaped, Edwards had acquired all his output from the period. That had been a turning point for Fantin-Latour: amidst the chaos of war and the revolutionary ideas that followed in its wake, not least through the advocacy of his friend Gustave Courbet, Fantin-Latour found himself looking increasingly to the art of the past, to tradition and stability, rather than the more radical concepts being espoused by others of his generation. He was thus unable to bring himself to exhibit alongside the Impressionists at Nadar's in 1874, and indeed was disappointed by his friend Edouard Manet's continued involvement with them. It appears he may have helped to dissuade Manet from showing alongside them in 1874. Fantin-Latour's devotion to Manet remained undiminished: he was one of the pallbearers at his funeral, and in 1889, the year Roses trémières was painted, subscribed to the fund being accumulated to purchase Olympia for the state.
It was doubtless shortly after being exhibited at the Royal Academy that Roses trémières was acquired by John Wheeldon Barnes FSA. The manager of Backhouse's Bank in Durham, Barnes was an avid and noted collector of works on paper by a number of artists including J.M.W. Turner, and his collection had received the attention of an article in The Athenaeum in November 1875. Roses trémières was sold as a part of his estate in 1894, where it was purchased by Charles Obach, a Swiss dealer born in Stuttgart who worked with Goupil and Co. before founding his own firm, which would later merge with Colnaghi. By the time Roses trémières reappeared at auction in 1909, half a decade after the artist's death, it belonged to W. Robinson; it was bought at that sale by Tempelaere, who was in fact one of Fantin-Latour's dealers, having been introduced to him at the funeral of François Bonvin. It subsequently formed a part of the collection of Stephen Mitchell of Boquhan and was sold as part of his estate in 1933; it then passed through the hands of Sir Bernard Eckstein, the son of gold miner Sir Frederick Eckstein, and the nephew of Hermann Eckstein, who formed a partnership with Wernher and Beit and was considered one of the so-called 'Randlords' in South Africa. Sir Bernard Eckstein left a large number of objects to the British Museum and the National Gallery, while also having his estate posthumously disposed of in a series of dedicated auctions. Soon afterwards, it was owned by Albert D. Lasker, and was exhibited alongside other highlights from his collection in 1953; it was lent by Lasker to an exhibition of Fantin-Latour's works held at Smith College Museum of Fine Art in Northampton, Massachussetts in 1966. Roses trémières later entered the collection of the renowned hotel entrepreneur, Charles Forte, who made a fortune that began with a milk bar he established on Regent Street in London. Forte was knighted and later elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Forte; in addition, he amassed a formidable collection of pictures including over a dozen by L.S. Lowry.