Vase of Roses

When the Dutch painter Cornelis van Spaendonck was around the age of twenty, he settled in Paris, which had become the new center of flower painting since the mid-18th century. As the artistic director of the Sèvres porcelain manufactory between 1785 and 1800, he created a great number motifs for the porcelain pieces designed to embellish the houses of princes and royals.

This bouquet containing several varieties of roses was placed in a precious dark-stone vase on a marble base. While vermilion and crimson roses circle the composition, a white rose and a pale centifolia rose (also known as the “painters’ rose”), focus the effects of the light. Also crowning the bouquet, the latter has been painted at every stage of its development: as a bud, half-open and in full bloom.