White Roses and Roses in a Footed Glass 

Henri Fantin-Latour, a 19th-century French painter, created this painting of roses in a footed glass. Fantin-Latour, known for his still lifes and flower paintings, lived during a time of significant social change in France. His decision to focus on still life, a genre often associated with femininity and domesticity, can be seen as a commentary on the limited roles available to women in the art world and society at large. The roses themselves, symbols of love and beauty, take on a deeper meaning when considered in this context. The fallen rose in the foreground might speak to the transient nature of beauty, or perhaps the inevitable decay of societal expectations. Fantin-Latour’s paintings of flowers allowed him to explore the beauty and fragility of life while subtly commenting on the societal constraints of his time. His paintings are less about the flowers themselves, and more about the cultural expectations that assigned them meaning.