Monticelli painted hundreds of pictures with heavily textured, richly colored surfaces, but his still lifes, all of which were painted between 1879 and 1883, were most admired. Cézanne was fascinated by his work, as was Van Gogh, who wrote to his brother that "Monticelli sometimes made a bunch of flowers as an excuse for gathering together in a single panel the whole range of his richest and most perfectly balanced tones... you must go straight to Delacroix to find anything equal to his orchestration of tones."
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Dimensions:Overall, with added strip at right, 26 1/2 x 19 1/4 in. (67.3 x 48.9 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Werner E. Josten, 1956
Object Number:56.183
Inscription: Signed (lower right): Monticelli
comte de Bois-Aimé, Marseilles; his nephew, M. de Loche, Meylan, near Grenoble (until 1903 or 1904; sold through the dealer Fenaglio, Grenoble to Trevroz); M. Trevroz, Paris (from 1903 or 1904); [Alfred Daber, Paris, until 1954; sold on October 14, for $10,017.93, to Rosenberg]; [Paul Rosenberg, New York, 1954–56; stock no. 5574; sold on December 1, 1956, for $15,000 to Josten]; Mr. and Mrs. Werner E. Josten, New York (1956; gift to The Met)
Paris. Alfred Daber. "Pour mon plaisir: Tableaux, aquarelles, dessins d'Ingres à Vuillard," May 6–29, 1954, no. 13.
New York. Paul Rosenberg & Co. "Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Adolphe Monticelli (1824–1886)," November 15–December 11, 1954, no. 15 (lent by Paul Rosenberg & Co.).
New York. Paul Rosenberg & Co. "Masterpieces Recalled: A Loan Exhibition of 19th and 20th Century French Paintings," February 6–March 2, 1957, no. 7.
New York. Wildenstein. "Birth of Impressionism," March 7–April 6, 1963, no. 59.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Van Gogh as Critic and Self-Critic," October 30, 1973–January 6, 1974, no. 42.
Alfred Daber. Pour mon plaisir: Tableaux, aquarelles, dessins d'Ingres à Vuillard. Exh. cat., Alfred Daber. Paris, 1954, unpaginated, no. 13, ill., transcribes a label from the back of this painting describing its early provenance [see archive file].
Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Adolphe Monticelli (1824–1886). Exh. cat., Paul Rosenberg & Co. New York, 1954, pp. 25, 27, no. 15, ill. p. 18, dates it 1876–77.
John Rewald. Birth of Impressionism. Exh. cat., Wildenstein, New York. 1963, unpaginated, no. 59, ill., dates it 1876–77.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 2, XIX Century. New York, 1966, p. 141, ill., state that it was painted in Marseilles, probably between 1880 and 1883; note that a very similar picture was formerly in the collection of Sam Lewisohn.
Charles S. Moffett. Van Gogh as Critic and Self-Critic. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1973, unpaginated, no. 42, dates it about 1880–83.
Sauveur Stammégna. Catalogue des œuvres de Monticelli. Vol. 2, Vence, 1986, p. 168, no. 890, ill.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 432, ill.
Richard Kendall inVan Gogh and Nature. Exh. cat., Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, Mass., 2015, p. 96, fig. 68 (color).
Charlotte Hale and Silvia A. Centeno in Susan Alyson Stein. Van Gogh's Cypresses. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2023, p. 176 n. 25.
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