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Lady with a Bouquet (Snowballs)

Charles Courtney Curran

1890

The genre painter Charles Courtney Curran is best known for his canvases depicting beautiful ladies in pleasant settings. Here, a young woman–the artist’s wife Grace Wickham Curran–arranges a bouquet of snowballs, pausing to take in their sweet fragrance. The small scale of the painting matches the intimacy of the moment. Her delicate features, light green shawl and blossom-like hat equate her to a flower, suggesting that she is as lovely and dainty as the blooms she savors. Curran’s choice of flower is likely a deliberate one. At the time this work was painted, bouquets were used to convey messages, with each flower having a specific symbolic meaning. According to the Victorian “language of flowers,” the snowball symbolized thoughts of heaven, adding an air of Christian piety to this work.

  • Titles Lady with a Bouquet (Snowballs) (Proper)
  • Artist Charles Courtney Curran, American, 1861 - 1942
  • Medium oil on wood panel
  • Dimensions 12 3/16 x 8 7/8 in. (31 x 22.5 cm) frame: 22 1/8 × 18 7/8 × 1 7/8 in. (56.2 × 47.9 × 4.8 cm)
  • Credit Line Gift of Mr. W. Houston Blount, Jr.; Dr. and Mrs. Walter D. Clark; Dr. and Mrs. Orville W. Clayton; EBSCO Industries; Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Gotlieb; Estate of Mr. Clarence B. Hanson, Jr.; Mrs. W. W. McTyeire, Jr.; Estate of Mr. George H. Mathews; Mr. Joshua R. Oden, Jr.; Mr. William M. Spencer III; Mrs. Alys R. Stephens; Mr. Elton B. Stephens; Mr. Elton B. Stephens, Jr.; Mr. James T. Stephens; Mrs. Martee Woodward Webb; and Mr. Thomas M. West, Jr., 1985.134
  • Work Type painting
  • Classification Paintings
  • On View

See More of the Collection

Woman, Standing Man, Boy and White Dog, Helen Levitt, gelatin silver print
seated female nude
Processing, Memphis, Tenn. 1966, William Christenberry, dye transfer print
This horizontal black and white photograph captures six men on the beach. Three men stand above three men sitting below them. Their arms are wrapped each other and the men are playful in their gestures. One man is pictured fully clothed, two men wear a bathing suit, and three men are shirtless and wear swimming trunks. The men sit on and are surrunded by large, jagged rocks. A flat area of sand encompasses the right half of the image. A clear sky forms the background.