Roses
ca. 1880
John La Farge
Born New York City, New York, 1835; died Providence, Rhode Island, 1910
Though we easily associate La Farge with grand decorative projects, like the magnificent peony-design window in the museum's collection, he is also admired for small still lifes such as this one.
This beautiful watercolor is representative of the kind of highly poetic still life work that La Farge created in other media-in oil painting and leaded glass. But as a watercolor, this still life is extraordinary for its delicacy. La Farge has painted the delicate flower forms as enchanting physical specimens, magical objects illuminated briefly for our last moment of enjoyment before they wither away.
Watercolor on paper
9 x 10 7/8 in. (22.9 x 27.6cm)
Partial and promised gift from a private collection
2005.159
Provenance: Edward William Hooper 1839-1901), Boston, by April 1884-his death in 1901; by bequest to his daughter, Fanny Hooper Curtis (Mrs. Greely S. Curtis), Boston, 1901-her death in 1963; sold from her estate to an unspecified buyer; sold at an unidenified auction to [Brown Corbin Fine Art, Lincoln, Mass.], 1988; sold to donor, Jan. 22, 1989