Lot Essay
In his Cherokee Roses in a Glass, Martin Johnson Heade has created a contemplative work so precisely and meticulously detailed that the intrigued viewer is enticed to ponder each shape and form of the flowers. Heade's artistic method was constant throughout the many years he painted still lifes: "Muting a sense of the artist's presence, eliminating visible brushstrokes, his painting is truly about the flowers themselves...Heade's flowers are restrained and quiet, giving the viewer a sense of both time and space: the small sprigs which have fallen to the tabletop are evidence of a recent event; one's eyes move between them, the other flowers, and the back of the table with a feeling of unease--the painting of a perfect realist, it would appear, yet it is more." (T.E. Stebbins, Jr., The Life and Works of Martin Johnson Heade, New Haven, Connecticut, 1975, pp. 115-16)
The rich iconography of the nineteenth century explains the vast symbolism attached to a work such as this. Dr. Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. notes that "it is obvious that Heade and other still-life painters of the time did not choose their subjects at random. Indeed, a true appreciation of the symbolism of flowers for Victorian America is crucial to a real understanding of Heade's work. For his time, flowers were universally considered symbolic of the human female, with different flowers specifically representing various feminine characteristics. It was a generation that spoke of the female and of sensuality primarily through metaphor...Each flower had a meaning which the Victorian would naturally attach to it. In order to teach and reinforce those identities, literally hundreds of books were published in America and in England in the nineteenth century... A bouquet or vase of mixed flowers could tell a whole story..." (The Life and Works of Martin Johnson Heade, p. 116) The rose was considered "the flower of lovers...the embodiment of love and beauty." (The Life and Works of Martin Johnson Heade, p. 117)
Despite having little critical success with works such as this, Cherokee Roses in a Glass, with its calm yet brooding character, successfully lends itself perfectly to the Victorian demand for "a dramatic or story-telling or symbolic meaning of the work of art." (The Life and Works of Martin Johnson Heade, Jr., p. 124)
This work will be included in Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr.'s forthcoming revised catalogue raisonn of Heade's work.
The rich iconography of the nineteenth century explains the vast symbolism attached to a work such as this. Dr. Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. notes that "it is obvious that Heade and other still-life painters of the time did not choose their subjects at random. Indeed, a true appreciation of the symbolism of flowers for Victorian America is crucial to a real understanding of Heade's work. For his time, flowers were universally considered symbolic of the human female, with different flowers specifically representing various feminine characteristics. It was a generation that spoke of the female and of sensuality primarily through metaphor...Each flower had a meaning which the Victorian would naturally attach to it. In order to teach and reinforce those identities, literally hundreds of books were published in America and in England in the nineteenth century... A bouquet or vase of mixed flowers could tell a whole story..." (The Life and Works of Martin Johnson Heade, p. 116) The rose was considered "the flower of lovers...the embodiment of love and beauty." (The Life and Works of Martin Johnson Heade, p. 117)
Despite having little critical success with works such as this, Cherokee Roses in a Glass, with its calm yet brooding character, successfully lends itself perfectly to the Victorian demand for "a dramatic or story-telling or symbolic meaning of the work of art." (The Life and Works of Martin Johnson Heade, Jr., p. 124)
This work will be included in Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr.'s forthcoming revised catalogue raisonn of Heade's work.