Roses, pansies and a pear
Henri Fantin-Latour
Henri Fantin-Latour at his table of flowers, from the 1860s to the 1880s. White roses in a glass beside one ripe pear and a few grapes, pansies in clay pots with green apples beside them, a crowded summer bouquet in pink, white and red, and a basket of fruit with a knife on a small wooden table. Between the flowers, two people: the painter himself as a young man, half in shadow, and a woman in black with her hands folded.
As a puzzle
Start with the flowers and the fruit, where the colour is: a yellow pansy, the pear, the red in the summer bouquet. The grounds are the hard part. Fantin painted them plain, in warm brown and grey, edge to edge with little in them, and the self-portrait is mostly shadow. Sort the background pieces by the direction of the brushstrokes, and keep the count moderate.
A good size here: 40–150 pieces.
Also filed under Realism
Subjects here: FlowersStill LifePortraits
7 pictures, pick one to build
