id: 149562 accession number: 1979.137 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1979.137 updated: 2025-12-07 02:43:40.868000 Roses in a Vase, 1878. Henri Fantin-Latour (French, 1836–1904). Oil on fabric; framed: 66 x 64 x 11 cm (26 x 25 3/16 x 4 5/16 in.); unframed: 45.4 x 43.3 cm (17 7/8 x 17 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, For Winifred Brown Kendrick, Gift of George S. Kendrick 1979.137 title: Roses in a Vase title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1878 creation date earliest: 1878 creation date latest: 1878 current location: creditline: For Winifred Brown Kendrick, Gift of George S. Kendrick copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: oil on fabric department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960 type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Henri Fantin-Latour (French, 1836–1904) - artist At the age of ten, Henri Fantin-Latour began painting with his father, Théodore Fantin-Latour (1805-1875). In 1850 he left Grenoble and moved to Paris to study under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran (1802-1897), an innovative and nontraditional instructor who developed and published his own unique teaching method based on painting and drawing from memory. Fantin studied with him for six years and then attended the École des Beaux-Arts for less than a year in 1854. Encouraged by J. A. M. Whistler (1834-1903), whom he met in 1858 at the Louvre, Fantin-Latour made several trips to London from 1859 to 1881, where he exhibited at the Royal Academy. London collectors appreciated his still lifes, and he began accepting numerous portrait commissions from English patrons. It was in London, through Whistler's brother-in-law Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910), that Fantin first learned to etch. After his first Salon submissions were rejected in 1859, Fantin, in an effort to become better known in France, began exhibiting with his friend Manet (q.v.) and future impressionists Renoir (q.v.) and Monet (q.v.). In 1865 Fantin wrote collector Edwin Edwards: "We form a group and make noise because there are lots of painters about and one is easily overlooked. When we get together . . . we gain strength in numbers and grow more adventurous. I thought it could last. That was my mistake." Unlike the realists and the impressionists, Fantin did not paint out of doors; rather, he preferred literary subjects, still lifes, and portraits that could be painted in his studio. In addition to portraits and still lifes, he made numerous paintings and more than 150 prints that were fantasy works and dream visions, paving the way for symbolist artists. These works were inspired by allegorical and mythological subjects as well as motivated by contemporary German composers such as Schumann and Wagner. After Fantin's death in 1904, critic René-Marc Ferry wrote: "when he found realism too limited and stifling, he lost himself in dreams, but his dreams went no further than the windows of his studio. Deep down, he was first and foremost a studio artist."1 1. Druick and Hoog 1982, 28. --- measurements: Framed: 66 x 64 x 11 cm (26 x 25 3/16 x 4 5/16 in.); Unframed: 45.4 x 43.3 cm (17 7/8 x 17 1/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Signed lower left: Fantin-78 translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review: 1979 opening date: 1980-02-13T05:00:00 Year in Review: 1979. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 13-March 9, 1980). title: The Magic of Still Life opening date: 1986-11-04T05:00:00 The Magic of Still Life. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 4, 1986-February 1, 1987). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE George S. Kendrick, Cleveland, Ohio, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: Until 1979 Latest Date: 1979 footnotes: *
The provenance of this painting prior to Kendrick’s ownership is at this time unknown.  The 1911 Fantin-Latour catalogue raisonné, for instance, contains no provenance information.  Tracing the painting’s whereabouts is made more difficult by the fact that Fantin-Latour painted over 800 flower paintings, including over 100 depicting only roses.  The Cleveland painting may have been located in the UK shortly after it creation, as in the 1870s the artist’s friend Edwin Edwards acted as an agent for English collectors, and so many of Fantin-Latour’s paintings at one time passed through England or Scotland.  In 1951, the Cleveland picture was exhibited at the Scott & Fowles gallery in New York (no. 10).  The exhibited works’ owners are not indicated, but a list of lenders is included in the exhibition catalogue.  Thus far, an investigation into the collections of the listed individuals and institutions has not yielded an appearance of the Cleveland painting.  
citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio date: 1979- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS d'Argencourt, Louise, Roger Diederen, and Alisa Luxenberg. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999. page number: url: Rousuck, E.J. E.J. Rousuck Invites You to a Spring Show of Fantin-Latour: Flowers, Fruits, Figures. New York: Scott & Fowles, 1951. page number: url: Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1979." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67, no. 3 (1980): 58-99. page number: Mentioned: cat. no. 55, p. 61, 96 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25159667 Argencourt, Louise d', and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 268-269, Vol. I, no. 97 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1979.137/1979.137_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1979.137/1979.137_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1979.137/1979.137_full.tif