This spirited late 19th-century oil painting by French artist Andr� Perrachon (1827-1909) depicts a still life with an abundance of yellow and pink roses. Perrachon was a prominent and well-loved painter of flora.Alive, delicately bustling, and bathed in light, they�re rendered with the utmost naturalistic effect. They radiate, glowing from inside, and shimmer amid a silvery haze.Perrachon is considered as one of the finest proponents of still life to have emerged from the ancient city of Lyon. He was a rose specialist and praised for his �lightness of touch�, which recalled �the masters of the Netherlands�.He undertook his early tuition at the local �cole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, before heading for the buzzing ateliers of Paris. Here, he trained with two masters - Fran�ois Lepage (1796-1871) and Pierre-Adrien Chabal-Dussurgey (1819-1902) at the �cole des Gobelins. The latter was the director of the flower painting workshop at the Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins, a long-established tapestry factory. Both Lepage and Chabal-Dussurgey were talented still life painters, yet offered two distinct styles. Lepage�s approach was somewhat grander and more akin to the 17th-century Dutch flower painters, whereas Chabal-Dussurgey offered light, buoyancy, and delicacy. Combined, the pair provided the foundations of Perrachon�s impressive career and both would leave their mark. His early works, such as a flower-piece from 1858, which is in the Mus�e des Beaux-Arts, Saint-Etienne, appears to display a traditional bias, while his later productions, such as this piece, are decidedly fresher.His talent was evident during the formative stages of his career and, by the age of 25, he�d debuted at the salons of Paris and Lyon. Already, he was establishing himself as an artist of considerable merit. As his career progressed, he became renowned for roses, above all else, and his �fragrant� renditions soon graced the walls of many a Lyonnais drawing-room. His trademark ...