JULIAN ALDEN WEIR | Still Life with Roses

Stanford White, New York, 1884 (gift from the artist)
Mrs. Stanford White, New York
Mark Carliner, California, by 1984
Coe Kerr Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 1986

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Denver, Colorado, Denver Art Museum, J. Alden Weir: An American Impressionist, October 1983-August 1984, pp. 136-37, illustrated fig. 3.57
New York, Vance Jordan Fine Art, Poetic Painting: American Masterworks from the Clark and Liebes Collections, October-December 2001, illustrated pl. 19

Dorothy Weir, “Records of the Paintings of J. Alden Weir,” unpublished manuscript notes, p. 61
Duncan Phillips, Julian Alden Weir: An Appreciation of His Life and Works, New York, 1922, p. 129
Doreen Bolger Burke, J. Alden Weir: An American Impressionist, New York, 1983, p. 137, illustrated fig. 3.57
Michael Quick, “Living with Antiques: A Collection Where East Meets West,” The Magazine Antiques, November 2001, vol. 160, no. 5, p. 685, illustrated pl. X

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes, Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work on panel has no reinforcements on the reverse. The panel is flat and the paint layer is stable. The work is clean and varnished. There are two or three small spots of retouching in the very dark background in the upper left. There are none within the still life. Some of the colors read darkly under ultraviolet light, but this does not correspond to retouching.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Still Life with Roses was first owned by the architect Stanford White and was most likely a wedding gift from the artist the year that it was painted. It is one of a small group of intimate still life paintings that Julian Alden Weir produced in 1884, following the completion of a series of large-scale vertical floral paintings.  In the present work, Weir employs bold, lush brushwork in the rendering of the pink and yellow roses set off against the more refined surface of the simple white bowl and dark background.  The dramatic lighting and stark setting give the work a presence that belies its small scale and demonstrate the influence of French painters Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin and Édouard Manet.  Weir’s mastery is particularly evident in the subtle reflection of the flowers on the table top. Duncan Phillips praised Weir’s still lifes such as Still Life with Roses, writing in 1922, “Collectors are proud to-day if they have kept the luscious paintings of roses arbitrarily relieved against dark backgrounds…These things possess so delicious and unctuous a pigment, so charmingly rendering their subjects with especial regard to richness of tone and texture, that they would make Weir sure of a reputation as a painter’s painter even if he had not gone on to greater achievements” (Julian Alden Weir: An Appreciation of His Life and Works, New York, 1922, p. 23).