French School, circa 1820-1840
White and Purple Roses
Watercolor and graphite on vellum

Unsigned. 10 ½ x 8 ½ inches (27 x 21.5 cm), the frame 16 x 13 inches (41 x 33 cm). Gilt frame with a linen slip. Clean and evenly toned, light handling marks at the edges.

The two roses are given entirely different whites. The upper flower is carried in lilac and cool grey with a hot pink heart, the lower one in cream, straw and beige without a touch of pure white anywhere. Between them the leaves turn, showing blue-grey undersides against the green of their faces.

Each thorn on the canes is placed singly, with its own shaded base and its point turned the way it grows, and the secondary veins of every leaf are followed one by one. A fine graphite line runs under the watercolor along the petal edges and the stems. The pigment sits on the surface of the vellum, which gives the flowers their chalky bloom and keeps the greens from sinking.