Bouquet of Diverse Flowers 1881

Henri Fantin-Latour painted this oil on canvas still life, Bouquet of Diverse Flowers, sometime in the 19th century. Fantin-Latour was a French painter known for his flower paintings and group portraits of prominent artists and writers. The flowers in this bouquet, which includes roses, peonies, and other blossoms, are rendered with delicate brushstrokes and a keen attention to detail. But still-life painting was not particularly highly regarded in the French academy. So why did so many artists, including Fantin-Latour, persist in creating them? Well, one answer might be the market. Flower painting could be a lucrative genre, particularly in newly wealthy industrial cities in England and France. Perhaps, in the end, this painting speaks less of the timeless beauty of nature and more of the rise of a new commercial art world in the 19th century. To better understand this painting, we might look at exhibition records and collectors’ correspondence from this period. The meaning of art always depends on its social and institutional context.