Eve

Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) was a French painter and lithographer best known for his flower paintings and group portraits of Parisian artists and writers.

His famous contemporary J. M. Whistler brought attention to Fantin in England, where his still-lifes sold so well that they were "practically unknown in France during his lifetime". In addition to his realistic paintings, Fantin-Latour created imaginative lithographs inspired by the music of some of the great classical composers.

Fantin-Latour depicted Eve several times, including a related painting (Private collection) and the lithograph Etude pour l'Eve (Study of Eve) (1898), where the figure is similar but the composition is cropped and plunged in shadow. Here Eve is reaching out to pick apples - yet the girth of the tree appears far vaster than a real-life apple-tree, which indicates a surprising element of artistic license from an artist whose flower 'portraits' are renowned for their accuracy. Indeed, a mood of mysterious symbolism prevails, linking Fantin-Latour to the cultural movement of the time.

See: Wikipedia, 'Henri Fantin-Latour', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Fantin-Latour

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art    April 2018