Still Life: Corner of a Table

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

This canvas, exhibited at the Salon of 1873, relates to Henri Fantin-Latour’s largest and most famous painting of the decade, The Corner of a Table (1872; Musée d’Orsay, Paris), an immense composition that includes detailed portraits of several young Parisian poets and writers. The table around which they are posed displays many of the still-life elements featured in this work. The delicate rhododendron plant reflects the influence of Japanese prints, from its dramatic silhouette against the neutral backdrop of the white tablecloth to its unusual placement in the foreground, emphasizing the scene’s unorthodox cropping.

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