_Henri Fantin-Latour_ (French: 1836-1904).
Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Latour was born at Grenoble,
the son of a famous pastellist. He first exhibited at the Salon
in 1861. In 1864 his "Hommage à Delacroix" created a sensation.
In this country, where he was a constant exhibitor at the Royal
Academy, he is best known for his exquisite studies of roses
and other flowers. But he was also a painter of portraits (see
No. 1952) and of romantic subjects inspired by his musical
tastes. In portraiture, a thorough, though a sympathetic,
realist (witness his "Monet's studio at the Batignolles" in the
Luxembourg),--he becomes fanciful when he enters the domain
of romance. A favourite medium was lithography, in which he
excelled; the British Museum has a fine set of proofs. His
subjects are taken from the motives used in the musical dramas
of Wagner and Berlioz.
Late summer flowers, chiefly roses, in a vase on a wooden table. The
background, as usual with this painter, is of a flat tone of warm gray.