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Lot Essay
The present work is one of several luscious, dark-background still lifes executed by Peploe in the first decade of the twentieth century at his Devon Place studio in the New Town in Edinburgh.
As in The Coffee Pot (circa 1905) and Tulips and a Coffee Pot (1905), Bouquet of Red and White Flowers with a Champagne Glass is a delightful marriage of two well-documented influences on the Scottish Colourist’s work: namely, Dutch Old Masters such as Frans Hals, and the leading Impressionist Edouard Manet.
The effect of the former can be detected in Peploe’s deft handling of light and dark. Opting for a dark background – following the Dutch tradition, allows the scarlet red and brilliant white of the flowers to take centre stage in the composition. In addition, we find the decadent after-dinner theme articulated through the appearance of the champagne glass; the lustrous, mirrored surface complimenting the chromatic intensity of the flowers. At the same time, Peploe makes use of the suggestive and economical brushstrokes emblematic of Impressionism. In the present work, “brushstrokes no longer define objects so much as suggest them, while retaining an independent existence of their own” (K. Hartley, exh. cat., Scottish Colourists, Edinburgh, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 1989, pp. 13-14).
As in The Coffee Pot (circa 1905) and Tulips and a Coffee Pot (1905), Bouquet of Red and White Flowers with a Champagne Glass is a delightful marriage of two well-documented influences on the Scottish Colourist’s work: namely, Dutch Old Masters such as Frans Hals, and the leading Impressionist Edouard Manet.
The effect of the former can be detected in Peploe’s deft handling of light and dark. Opting for a dark background – following the Dutch tradition, allows the scarlet red and brilliant white of the flowers to take centre stage in the composition. In addition, we find the decadent after-dinner theme articulated through the appearance of the champagne glass; the lustrous, mirrored surface complimenting the chromatic intensity of the flowers. At the same time, Peploe makes use of the suggestive and economical brushstrokes emblematic of Impressionism. In the present work, “brushstrokes no longer define objects so much as suggest them, while retaining an independent existence of their own” (K. Hartley, exh. cat., Scottish Colourists, Edinburgh, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 1989, pp. 13-14).