Lot 118: Arnoldus Bloemers , Dutch 1792-1844 Still life of roses, lilac, peonies, tulips, an iris, auriculas, fritillaria imperialis, morning glory and other flowers in a terracotta vase on a stone ledge, with a sprig of honeysuckle oil on canvas

signed with the artist's monogrammed initials AB (lower left) oil on canvas

measurements 40 by 32 1/4 in. alternate measurements 101.6 by 81.9 cm

Helen Jaques Ware, Massachusetts, circa 1930
Thence by descent through the family

We are grateful to Dr. Celia Fisher for her assistance with the cataloguing of this work.
Many of the flowers in this abundant arrangement were traditional favorites in Old Master flower pieces from the seventeenth century onwards - including the fritillaria imperialis, anemone, iris, tulip, peony and the white and pink roses. In eighteenth century flower paintings these were joined by poppies, auriculas and the two types of yellow roses seen here. Many of these flowers, including the yellow roses, were first introduced into Europe from the East and were still regarded as exotic. Painstaking collection and breeding had resulted in tulips with fine markings on the petals, while roses, peonies and poppies had been developed to produce large double flowers. During the eighteenth century more flowers from America were also coming into European cultivation - many artists chose morning glory and nasturtiums to add vivid touches of blue and orange to their paintings. If Bloemers' yellow daisy is coreopsis, this was a recent introduction from the New World, as were the godetias, but most spectacular of the American flowers was the dahlia, first mentioned soon after the Spanish conquest of Mexico, but only just arriving in European gardens as Bloemers was painting. At this time rhododendrons were also starting to excite collectors, originally because of the boxes of living American plants sent by John Bartram from Pennsylvania to his plant-collecting friends in London, especially Peter Collinson. However these early American rhododendrons proved hard to cultivate and the plant shown here is R. ponticum from the Near East which adapted far more readily to the shrubberies which were then becoming fashionable in European gardens. It was also customary in flower paintings to include some traditional European flowers even if they tended to appear rather small or peripheral - like the honeysuckle, cornflower, pansy, columbine, bistort and meadowsweet. The sweet peas, although also rather submerged in this arrangement, were more special, having been discovered growing wild in Sicily and brought into general cultivation in the eighteenth century.