Nasturtiums
painter
Jan Voerman
(Kampen, Netherlands, 1857 - 1941, Hatten, Netherlands)
Dateabout 1894
Place MadeNetherlands, Europe
MediumOpaque watercolor on paper
Dimensions34.3 x 55.3 cm (13 1/2 x 21 3/4 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberP3w40
eMuseum ID717984
EmbARK ObjectID10967
TMS Source ID226
Last Updated11/6/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryDutch artist Jan Voerman painted this still life of three pots of yellow and orange nasturtiums in the late 19th century. Isabella Stewart Gardner’s friend Ralph W. Curtis brought the work to her attention, writing "it is A1 but will suffer no little ones to hang near it, unless they be real nasturtiums." Isabella was an avid gardener and grew nasturtium vines at her greenhouses in Brookline, Massachusetts. Annually in April, she placed them on the balconies in the courtyard to celebrate her birthday—a tradition the Museum continues today.
BibliographyNotesCatalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1905), p. 2. (as by J. Vanmeer)
Philip Hendy. Catalogue of Exhibited Paintings and Drawings (Boston, 1931), p. 412.
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 37.
Philip Hendy. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), p. 288, ill.
Jenny Pore, "The Elevation of the Nasturtium: From Plate to Palace Garden," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 9 March 2022, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/elevation-nasturtium-plate-palace-garden
Philip Hendy. Catalogue of Exhibited Paintings and Drawings (Boston, 1931), p. 412.
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 37.
Philip Hendy. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), p. 288, ill.
Jenny Pore, "The Elevation of the Nasturtium: From Plate to Palace Garden," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 9 March 2022, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/elevation-nasturtium-plate-palace-garden
MarksNotesInscribed (lower right): J. Voerman
ProvenanceNotesPurchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the art dealers Frans Buffa & Zonen, Amsterdam for 700 francs on 16 September 1894, through the American painter and collector Ralph W. Curtis (1854-1922).
