Description
Roses and Statuette – a work with two titles
On a pink table surface stands a tall clear bottle of water, out of which rises a bunch of white and pale pink roses with dark green leaves. To the right of the bottle stands a small dark carved statuette, seen in profile. At the lower left a green vessel with a wide mouth lies on its side. The ground is divided: a dark blue surface above, a warm brown-red band below. At the lower right the painter’s mark is painted in green. The work is held by the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Reims under the inventory number 943.1.1, and the year is 1889.
Two titles, and the difference between them
The French national record for this work carries two titles and expressly distinguishes them. The first, Roses and Statuette, is marked as an attributed title, that is, a name given later. The second, Still life with a Maori statuette, is marked as the title entered in the inventory. The title is therefore not one settled thing but two entries of different origin, and the record says so itself.
What we do not explain
The inventory title calls the statuette Maori, and the work is dated 1889, that is, before the painter’s first voyage to the Pacific. We report both details as they are written and do not try to reconcile them: the record we were able to read says nothing about where the statuette came from, and we add no explanation.
A mark the record does not note
The inscriptions field in this record is empty. Even so, a green painter’s mark is clearly visible at the lower right of the canvas. We state both: that the record notes no inscription, and that the mark is on the picture. We do not correct the record.
How a hand-painted reproduction is made
Every reproduction here is hand-painted in oil on canvas, stroke by stroke. In this motif the glass is the hardest part: the bottle has to stay transparent and solid at once, or the flowers seem to float without support. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval.
- Subject: white and pink roses in a tall bottle, a dark statuette beside it, a green vessel at the lower left.
- Technique: oil on canvas, dark blue above and warm brown-red below.
- Sizes: portrait format, from 30 x 40 cm to 150 x 200 cm; 60 x 80 cm and 90 x 120 cm are often chosen.
- Of note: the museum register lists the work under two different titles.
If the same period interests you, see also Breton Girls Dancing, Pont-Aven, The Green Christ and Breton Peasant Women. The museum record gives the measurement as height by width: 73.2 x 54.5 cm.
