Bouquet in an Attic Bell Crater

The Vienna-based painter Ferdinand Georg Waldm�ller was a master of modest pleasures, a laureate of the status quo. But even he can surprise with the contrast between his skills for both hermetic still-life and plein air narrative. The first may be witnessed in his glittering Bouquet in an Attic Bell Crater. Seen against a startlingly neutral, dark background, the flowers are surrounded by early Victorian silver, ribbon, and jewelry.