NARRATOR—The work of Henri Fantin-Latour is characterized by simplicity and restraint. Rarely is the arrangement in one of the artist's still-life paintings more complicated than what we see in these two examples- a vase or bouquet of flowers placed on a narrow ledge that merges imperceptibly with the wall in the background. The hazy illumination caressing Fantin’s blooms and the delicacy of the artist's gentle touch add to a poetic element that transports these still-life elements from the real to the ideal realm. The American artist James McNeil Whistler, one of artist's friends and most ardent admirers, proclaimed in his famous "Ten O'Clock Lecture:" “Fantin approached nature with the light of one who sees suggestions of future harmonies in nature's choice selection of brilliant tones and delicate tints."