Peonies and Plums (1899)

Gustave Emile Couder: Peonies and Plums

Carved rock crystal ewer (1893)

Blaise Alexandre Desgoffe: Carved rock crystal ewer 

and precious objects on red velvet

Flowers From Normandy (1887)

Henri Fantin-Latour: Flowers From Normandy

Still Life with Antiquities (1885)

Claude Joseph Bail: Still Life with Antiquities

Basket of Roses (1880)

Henri Fantin-Latour: Basket of Roses

Chrysanthemums (1879)

Henri Fantin-Latour: Chrysanthemums

Dahlias (1878)

Henri Fantin-Latour: Dahlias

Still Life (1876)

Henri Fantin-Latour: White Roses, Chrysanthemums in a Vase, 

Peaches and Grapes on a Table with a White Tablecloth

Henri Fantin-Latour (1875)

 Henri Fantin-Latour: Large Vase of Dahlias and Assorted Flowers

  

Henri Fantin-Latour: White Roses

Still Life with Torso and Flowers (1874)

Henri Fantin-Latour: Still Life with Torso and Flowers

Still Life with Fruit (1871-72)

Gustave Courbet: Still Life with Fruit

Still Life (1869)

Henri Fantin-Latour: Still Life

Still Life (1866)

Henri Fantin-Latour: Still Life

The Basket of Flowers (1863)

Gustave Courbet: The Basket of Flowers

Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase (1862)

Gustave Courbet: Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase

Gustave Courbet, who had previously painted less than a handful of flower pictures, took up the genre enthusiastically during a stay in western France in 1862. Intending to visit his friend Etienne Baudry for two weeks, he arrived at the garden enthusiast's château in May and remained in the area for eleven months. With his friend's encouragement, Courbet explored flower painting using Baudry's extensive gardens, greenhouses, and library of botanical books. He painted about twenty flower pictures and remarked to a friend, "I am coining money out of flowers."

Courbet had visited Holland in 1847 and his exposure there to Dutch flower painting is evident. His arrangement shares the exuberant spontaneity and abundance of Dutch artist Jan Van Huysum's Vase of Flowers. Like his Netherlandish forebears, Courbet chose flowers that bloom at different times of the year: lilies, roses, gladioli, stock, asters, ipomoeas, poppies, and others. While he typically eschewed allegory, Courbet may have also followed the Dutch practice of using ephemeral flowers to suggest the transitory nature of life and human happiness. Unlike Van Huysum and other Dutch painters known for their intricately detailed technique, Courbet used broad brushstrokes and often spread his thick paint with a palette knife. [Getty Museum]

Théodule Augustin Ribot (1861)

 Théodule Augustin Ribot: La Fête du Chef

  

Théodule Augustin Ribot: Still Life

Still Life (ca. 1860)

Théodule-Augustin Ribo: Still Life with Pumpkin, Plums, Cherries, Figs and Jug

Flowers (1860)

Henri Fantin-Latour: Flowers

Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904; born Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Latour) was the 19th century's premier painter of flower still lifes. As a youth, he received drawing lessons from his father, who was an artist. In 1850 he entered the Ecole de Dessin, where he studied with Lecoq de Boisbaudran. After studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1854, he devoted much time to copying the works of the old masters in the Musée du Louvre. Although Fantin-Latour befriended several of the young artists who would later be associated with Impressionism, including Whistler and Manet, Fantin's own work remained conservative in style.

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. [Wikipedia]

Still Life with Apples and a Pomegranate (1859)

Gustave Courbet: Still Life with Apples and a Pomegranate

Still Life with a Pipe and Matches (1858)

Alexandre Gabriel Decamps: Still Life with a Pipe and Matches

The Latin epigram "utere ne abutere" translates as "do not overdo."