Roses 1885

Henri Fantin-Latour made this still life painting, "Roses," with oil on canvas. This wasn't radical for the time, but the way he handled the material certainly was. Notice how the paint seems to have been applied in soft, feathery strokes. This imbues the roses with a delicate, almost ethereal quality, as if they might fade away at any moment. It's a world away from the kinds of grand history painting that were still esteemed in his day. Instead, he has focused on something modest, a display of cultivated beauty that would have been accessible to many middle-class households. While the roses might seem like a straightforward subject, the choice of flowers like these in this period speaks volumes about the burgeoning industry of floriculture and the rise of consumer culture. The painting freezes a fleeting moment in time, an everyday luxury made available through a network of labor. Considering the materials, the making, and the social context helps us understand how even a simple still life can speak to broader issues.