Still Life

Henri Fantin-Latour

National Gallery of Art

We look slightly down onto a wooden table or buffet with a basket of fruit, a vase of pink and white flowers, a book, and a small tray holding a teacup, saucer, and two oranges in this horizontal still life painting. The wooden surface is highly polished and has a red tint, like cherry. The oval, rust-red tray has a lip around the edge, and it sits across the front right corner of the table, close to us. One of the oranges in the tray is peeled, and a segment sits near a second, unpeeled orange. The empty white teacup, also in the tray, has a flaring lip and a delicate gold handle, and the cup and saucer are edged in gold. The thick, soft-bound, sea-blue book is placed beyond the tray, to our right. Behind the tray, a tall, goblet-like, cobalt-blue vase with a pedestal foot holds five flowers, possibly carnations, among green leaves. Two blossoms are cream white, two are ruby red, and the fifth flower is streaked with both colors. To our left, a rectangular, woven, wicker basket holds three pears, two apples, and a quince. The fruit is blush red, golden yellow, or pale green. A pale yellow quince and red and yellow apple sit on the table in front of the basket, near the tray. The background is painted a muted sage green. The artist signed and dated the work with dark green paint in the upper right corner: “Fantin. 1866.”