Daniel Ridgway Knight | La sosta, 1890

Dopo i primi successi artistici di Daniel Ridgway Knight a Parigi, Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissioner lo invitò a trasferirsi a Poissy, una città rurale non lontana dai confini della città.

Il famoso Meissonier è stato colpito dal talento di Ridgway Knight e ha offerto il suo consiglio protetto e una sfida: dipingere un'immagine di grandi dimensioni da un recente schizzo.

Ridgway Knight raggiunse audacemente l'obiettivo del suo mentore, e il conseguente dipinto del 1875, Les Laveuses (venduto in queste sale il 25 aprile 2006, lotto 142) lo mise in una nuova direzione, informando una serie di composizioni multi-figurali ambiziose e complesse, come il presente lavoro.

Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) | Page 7

Henri Fantin-Latour (French painter and lithographer, January 14, 1836 - August 25, 1904) - A collection of 111 paintings and lithographs.

For biographical notes -in english and italian- and other works by Fantin-Latour see:

• Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) | 111 artworks | Page 1🎨
• Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) | 111 artworks | Page 2🎨
• Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) | 111 artworks | Page 3🎨
• Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) | 111 artworks | Page 4🎨
• Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) | 111 artworks | Page 5🎨
• Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) | 111 artworks | Page 6🎨

Henri Fantin-Latour | Cherries, 1883

Henri Fantin-Latour | Cherries, 1883 | Victoria and Albert Museum

"Cherries" is a fine example of Fantin-Latour's paintings of flower, a category in which he progressively specialised executing up to 500 floral compositions.

This painting shows a cherry branch with cherries and leaves whose bright red and green contrast against the plain white background.

This effect of light and colour are characteristic of the new naturalism developed in French art in the second half of the 19th century, which anticipate the Impressionists' new experimentations.

"Cherries" was probably painted in Paris in Fantin-Latour's studio.

It shows a branch of cherry tree with cherries and leaves, the motif being cut off on the edges.

It is one of the three paintings the South Kensington School of Design, now Victoria and Albert Museum, acquired as a model for its students.

They all share the characteristic of presenting a single plant rather than a bouquet, depicted without a vase or table, on a plain background.

Here the artist focused his attention on the contrast between the brilliant colours of the cherries and the almost white background, pervading the picture with a strong luminosity.

Henri Fantin-Latour | Self-Portrait, 1858

Henri Fantin-Latour | Self-Portrait, 1858 | Metropolitan Museum of Art

At the beginning of his career, between 1854 and 1861, Fantin-Latour executed a large number of self-portraits in chalk, charcoal, and oil.

This example reveals his fascination with the work of Rembrandt and Courbet, who both used broad, rich strokes of paint and depicted forms as if they were emerging from an enveloping darkness. | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Henri Fantin-Latour | Artworks | Page 3

Henri Fantin-Latour was a French painter and lithographer best known for his flower paintings and group compositions of contemporary French classical composers and celebrities in the arts.

For other works by Fantin-Latour see:

• Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) | 111 artworks | Page 1
• Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) | 111 artworks | Page 2

Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904)

A contemporary of the Impressionists, the French artist Henri Fantin-Latour was notable for his flower paintings and group portraits of the Paris intellectuals of the period.

The son of Théodore Fantin-Latour, also an artist, who initiated him in the art of painting, he studied at the École de Dessin in Paris.

However, he derived his real training from copying the classical works of the Great Masters in the Musée du Louvre, particularly Titian and Veronese.

Later, in 1861, he was a disciple of Gustave Courbet for a while, although his discreet, intimate realism was very different from that of his master and caused them to go their separate ways very soon.

Peter Mork Monsted (1859-1941)

Peder Mørk Mønsted (Balle Mølle, 10 dicembre 1859 - Fredensborg, 20 giugno 1941) è stato uno tra i rappresentanti del periodo d'oro della pittura Danese e fu noto come paesaggista.

Mønsted difficilmente può essere collegato alla pittura di paesaggio accademica perché venne molto influenzato dall'Impressionismo francese.