Roses

Artist Sir George Reid (Aberdeen, Scotland, 1841 - 1913)

Date1884

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

DimensionsOverall: Height: 36.9 cm, Width: 89.4 cm
Frame: Height: 64 cm, Width: 116.1 cm

AcquisitionMrs H W Lumsden Bequest, 1920.

CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0

LocationOn Loan

Object numberABDAG003943

Keywords

Rose

About MeGeorge Reid can be credited with introducing still life painting to Scotland. He was the first Scottish artist to paint flower still lifes and went on to influence the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists. Like Fantin-Latour and Diaz before him and Stuart Park and S.J. Peploe after, Reid came to concentrate on painting roses.

Between 1876 and 1894 he painted a total of fifty-three flower pieces, the large majority of which were of roses. Reid wrote of this subject: " they won't keep after they are cut and require to be set about at once. By the second day their glory has begun to pass away - "Change and decay in all around I see"! is the suitable motto for the second day at a rose picture."

Reid has arranged the flowers in a casual way. The roses are strewn on the table. The loose petals emphasise the transient nature of flowers and by extension, of life itself.

More About Me

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Reid introduced still life painting to Scotland and painted more than fifty flower pieces, mostly showing roses.