Still Life

1866

Henri Fantin-Latour

Artist, French, 1836 - 1904

We look slightly down onto a wooden table or buffet with a basket of fruit, a vase of pink and white flowers, a book, and a small tray holding a teacup, saucer, and two oranges in this horizontal still life painting. The wooden surface is highly polished and has a red tint, like cherry. The oval, rust-red tray has a lip around the edge, and it sits across the front right corner of the table, close to us. One of the oranges in the tray is peeled, and a segment sits near a second, unpeeled orange. The empty white teacup, also in the tray, has a flaring lip and a delicate gold handle, and the cup and saucer are edged in gold. The thick, soft-bound, sea-blue book is placed beyond the tray, to our right. Behind the tray, a tall, goblet-like, cobalt-blue vase with a pedestal foot holds five flowers, possibly carnations, among green leaves. Two blossoms are cream white, two are ruby red, and the fifth flower is streaked with both colors. To our left, a rectangular, woven, wicker basket holds three pears, two apples, and a quince. The fruit is blush red, golden yellow, or pale green. A pale yellow quince and red and yellow apple sit on the table in front of the basket, near the tray. The background is painted a muted sage green. The artist signed and dated the work with dark green paint in the upper right corner: “Fantin. 1866.”

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 62 x 74.8 cm (24 7/16 x 29 7/16 in.)
    framed: 84.1 x 98.4 cm (33 1/8 x 38 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.146

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Reginald Davis, Paris; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 10 May 1909, no. 5); (Bernheim-Jeune, Paris). A.T. Hollingsworth, London; (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 19 April 1929, no. 130); (Reid & Lefevre, London) half share with (M. Knoedler and Co., New York): sold June 1929 through (Galerie Étienne Bignou, Paris) to Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York;[1] bequest 1963 to NGA.
[1] Reid & Lefèvre, Paintings Sold, sheet no. 229, #68/29 gives acquisition source and half share with Knoedler (Lefèvre archives, Hyman Kreitman Research Centre, Tate Britain, London, TGA 2002/11, Box 283). Also letter dated 22 June 1929 from Bignou shipping the picture to London (Lefèvre archives, Hyman Kreitman Research Centre, Tate Britain, London, TGA 2002/11, Box 218).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1866

  • Salon of 1866, Paris, no. 683

1906

  • Exposition de l'oeuvre de Fantin-Latour, Ecole nationale des beaux-arts, Paris, 1906, no. 69, as La table garnie.

1930

  • "La Nature Morte" from Chardin to the Abstract, Wildenstein Galleries, New York, 1930, no. 4, as La table garnie.

  • Cent ans de peinture française, Georges Petit, Paris, 1930, no. 9, as Fleurs et fruits sur une table.

1932

  • Fantin-Latour, Museum of French Art, New York, 1932, no. 7, as La Table Garnie.

1965

  • The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

2010

  • From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, January 2010-January 2012, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1929

  • Photogravure Picture Section. The New York TImes (15 September 1929): repro.

1941

  • Catalogue of French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 8, repro. pl. XV

  • "The Chester Dale Pictures on loan to the National Gallery of Art." Magazine of Art 34 no. 9 (November 1941): 476+, repro.

1942

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 49, repro.

1944

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 166, color repro.

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1944: 49, repro.

1953

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1953: 41, repro.

1959

  • Evans, Grose. French Painting of the 19th Century in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1959 (Booklet Number Two in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 24, color repro.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 268, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 49.

  • Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 66, repro.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:450, color repro.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 41, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 126, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 492, no. 730, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 152, repro.

Inscriptions

upper right: Fantin. 1866.

Wikidata ID

Q20188684

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