Oil on canvas, 1876, signed at lower right, later inscription to stretcher, presented in a period appropriate frame.

Stretcher size 12 1/2 x 16 1/2 in.; Frame dimensions 19 3/4 x 23 3/4 in.

Private Collection, California and North Carolina

Christie's, London, 6 December 1963, Lot 111
Christie's, New York, 20 December 2006, Lot 6 (sold post-auction)
Private Collection, Los Angeles, California and Raleigh, North Carolina

Victoria Fantin-Latour, née Dubourg, was a French still life painter. Born in Paris, she studied under Fanny Chéron and was among the first women to obtain a permit to study the artworks housed at the Louvre. It was at the Louvre, while copying one of the old masters, that she met her future husband and collaborator, Henri Fantin-Latour. The couple became engaged in 1869 and married in 1878.

Victoria and her husband moved in a circle of avant-garde artists, including Berthe Morisot, Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas. Like Henri, Victoria is best known for her floral still life paintings. She exhibited regularly at the French Artists Salon from 1869 to 1902. She was also a member of the Royal Academy in London from 1882 to 1896. In 1920, she was awarded the Legion d’Honneur. Her paintings are in numerous public and private collections including the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the Musée National des Beaux-Arts de l’Occident in Tokyo.

Over-cleaned; stable craquelure; reflective varnish; minor scattered retouch visible under UV light.