Zinnias, Petunias and Delphinium in a Yellow Pottery Crock

Laura Coombs Hills was an accomplished miniature painter who, due to failing eyesight, turned her attention to creating larger pastel still lifes at the age of sixty. Immensely popular during her lifetime, the Massachusetts native had no trouble selling her floral scenes even during the Great Depression. Hills was not afraid of bright colors and pattern mixing, two aspects of her work that were undoubtedly borrowed from the modern painting trends she saw during her numerous visits to Europe throughout her lifetime.