Updated 15 May 2025
On Display Permanent collection
On Display
Still Life with a Carafe, Flowers and Fruit
| Date | 1865 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | oil on canvas |
| Size（cm） | 59.1 x 51.5 |
| Inscriptions | Signed and dated upper left: H.Fantin. 1865 |
| Credit Line | Purchased |
| Standard ref. | Fantin-Latour 280bis |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.1997-0001 |
Fantin-Latour's oeuvre can be largely divided into three genres, namely, portraits, still-lifes and allegorical compositions. Still-lifes are a genre that Fantin-Latour was particularly enthusiastic about throughout his life. The motifs in this painting are early summer fruit and flowers, making it a typical example of Fantin-Latour's still-lifes. The painting was created relatively early in his career and is noteworthy for the extremely high quality. The almost square canvas is one of the larger still-lifes created by the artist. The composition, made up of various objects placed on a tablecloth-draped table, reflects the traditional methods of the 17th and 18th centuries. Similarly the motifs chosen -- a wine-filled carafe, flowers in a vase, and fruit -- are all standard motifs in such works. The simple contrast between the dark brown background and the pure white tablecloth and the stylish choice of placing a white china dish and white flowers on top of a white tablecloth are characteristic of Fantin-Latour's style. Moreover, the striking contrast between the hard textures of the glass carafe, vase, and plate and the tactile textures of flowers and fruit is extremely modern. In the 1860s Fantin-Latour's friends, Manet, Monet, Renoir and many others began to create still-life paintings, and there is a considerable connection between Manet's still-lifes and Fantin-Latour's in terms of motifs and compositions. The freshness of feeling and the sense that the scene highlights a single moment of time are elements common to both Fantin-Latour's and Manet's still-lifes. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no.66)
Provenance
Madam Esnaut-Pelterie.
Exhibition History
- 2017
- Edouard Manet, Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal, 24 October 2017 - 25 February 2018, [n. n.]
- 2021
- National Touring Exhibition of Western Art from the NMWA: When Here and Afar Meet: Western Art in Yamagata / Western Art in Takaoka, Yamagata Museum of Art, 17 July 2021 - 27 August 2021, Takaoka Art Museum, 10 September-24 October 2021, cat. no. Y3_21 | T3_45
- 2023
- Van Gogh and Still Life: From Traditional to Innovation, Sompo Museum of Art, 17 October 2023 - 21 January 2024, cat. no. 18, col. repr.
Bibliography
- 1911
- Fantin-Latour, Madame. Catalogue de l'oeuvre complet de Fantin-Latour. Paris, 1911 (rep. ed. Amsterdam/ New York, 1969), cat. no. 280bis.
- 1995
- Roux, P. de. Fantin-Latour, Figures et Fleurs. Paris, 1995, p. 18.
- 1996
- Lévêque, J. J. Henri Fantin-Latour, un peintre intimiste, 1836-1904. Paris, 1996, p. 11.
- 1998
- Takahashi, Akiya. Henri Fantin-Latour and the Revolution in Still-life Painting. Fantin- Latour (exh. cat.). Utsunomiya Museum of Art, ed. Utsunomiya Museum of Art, Utsunomiya, 23 September – 8 November 1998. Utsunomiya, Utsunomiya Museum of Art, 1998, pp. 67-74 (in Japanese), 76-81 (in English), repr.
- 1999
- Annual Bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 32 (April 1997-March 1998), 1999, Takahashi, Akiya. New Acquisitions. pp. 8-9, List of New Acquisitions. p. 19, col. repr.
- 2006
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 66, col. repr.
- 2009
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 66, col. repr.
- 2013
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 83, col. repr.
- 2013
- French Ceramics at the Time of Impressionism 1866–1886: Maturity of Japonisme(exh. cat.). Art Impression Inc., c2013, cat. no. P1, col. repr.
- 2017
- Edouard Manet (exh. cat.). Finckh, Gerhard. Wuppertal, Von der Heydt-Museum, 2017, p. 196, col. repr.
- 2021
- When Here and Afar Meet: Western Art in Yamagata/Western Art in Takaoka (exh. cat.). Shinfuji, Atsushi, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2021, pp. 137, 183, cat. no. Y3_21 | T3_45, col. repr.
- 2023
- Van Gogh and Still Life: From Traditional to Innovation (exh. cat.). Senzoku, Nobuyuki; Kobayashi, Shoko, eds. [Tokyo], Sompo Art Foundation; Sompo Museum of Art, 2023, pp. 66, 69, 181, cat. no. 18, col. repr.