Roses et lis dans un vase

This 1864 still life combining roses and lilies in a vase, now in the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection in Zurich, documents Fantin-Latour at an early stage of his flower-painting career, before his distinctive mature style had fully crystallized. By 1864 he had made his mark in Paris with his group portrait "Hommage à Delacroix" at the Salon, and his flower paintings were beginning to attract British buyers through Whistler's introductions. Roses and lilies appear together in this canvas — a combination that presented coloristic and compositional challenges since the architectural verticality of lily stems contrasts with the rounded abundance of rose blooms. Early Fantin-Latour flower paintings are more deliberate and less confident than his mature works but already show the patient, observation-based approach that would define his career. The Bührle Collection's holding provides context within a group of major French nineteenth-century works.

Oil on canvas with careful attention to the distinct visual characters of roses and lilies — the compact, rounded petals of the former versus the open, trumpet-shaped flowers of the latter. Fantin-Latour used a mid-tone ground and built each flower type through layered observation, working from shadow to highlight.