Victorian Still Life Oil Painting of Pink Roses and Summer Flowers in a Glass Bowl

A Victorian still life oil painting of pink roses and summer flowers in a green cut glass bowl. A pink cabbage rose, its petals painted thick enough to catch the light, is the star of this late 19th century still life, and it knows it. Around it spills a generous summer bunch: a full head of white phlox with crimson eyes, marguerite daisies, a deep red rose, scarlet and blush sweet peas, all gathered loosely in a green tinted cut glass bowl. Sweet pea tendrils curl up into the dark brown background, the bowl stands on a gold and russet patterned cloth, and in front two butter yellow roses and a small bud have tumbled onto the ledge, as if dropped while the arrangement was being made.

Height: 53cm (20.9in)
Width: 42cm (16.5in)
Measured including the frame

This is a Victorian oil on canvas, monogrammed in the lower right corner, painted at a time when flower pieces were hung in drawing rooms across the country. The artist had a real feel for texture. The phlox is built up in tiny dabs of white with flicks of red at each centre, the light glints off the facets of the glass, and the pink rose is layered in pink and raspberry that give it real weight.

It sits in a gilt frame with a decorative foliate outer edge and an inner slip, and measures 53 x 42 cm including the frame, with hanging wire fitted so it is ready to hang. As you'd expect from a painting of this age, there is fine craquelure across the paint surface, a small rubbed patch in the background at lower left where the canvas weave shows through, and light wear to the frame with a small loss to the inner slip. On the back, the original stretcher carries an old handwritten pencil inscription, a lovely trace of the painting's past life.

The dark ground makes the flowers glow, so it looks wonderful against chalky whites, soft greens or a deep painted wall. Hang it above a fireplace or sideboard with a pair of brass candlesticks, or lean it on a bookshelf beside a jug of fresh garden flowers for a lovely echo. In a bedroom it brings warmth and colour all year round, long after the real roses have gone over.