Plate of Peaches

Henri Fantin-Latour (French, 1836–1904)

1862

Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas

Dimensions18.1 x 32 cm (7 1/8 x 12 5/8 in.)

Credit LineM. Theresa B. Hopkins Fund

Accession number60.792

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsPaintings

Collections

Europe

Description

This unusually intimate composition betrays Fantin’s debt to Chardin, the 18th-century master of still life who returned to art-historical fashion in the early 1860s. Carefully restricted to three peaches, a plate, and a fruit knife, the composition has a rapt quality, conveying to the viewer a sense of the painter’s own hushed absorption in his subject.

InscriptionsUpper left: Fantin / 1862ProvenanceProbably sold by the artist to Gustave Tempelaere (b. 1840 - d. 1904), Paris [see note 1]; about 1900, sold by Tempelaere to a private collector, Paris; by descent within the family until about 1960; about 1960, sold by a private collector to Paul Rosenberg and Co., New York; 1960, sold by Rosenberg for $7,250 to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 8, 1960)

NOTES:
[1] The provenance was provided by Paul Rosenberg and Co. at the time of the painting's acquisition. Gustave Tempelaere's gallery maintained a close relationship with Fantin-Latour, who probably sold this work directly to him. Notes in the MFA curatorial file, which are unverified, suggest that the private collector who purchased the work around 1900 was a M. Gorgeu, and that the painting was passed on by descent within his family.