A Vase of Corn Lilies and Heliotrope, Martin Johnson Heade
Martin Johnson Heade celebrated early summer with hues of red, white, and blue in this painting. The artist loved flowers and described gathering each day “a beautiful bouquet for the breakfast table.” One might imagine him clipping the white corn lilies, red and bluish-purple heliotropes, and strawberries as they all ripened and bloomed in early June. Delicate heliotrope blossoms were especially popular with 19th-century gardeners, who compared their sweet fragrance to the aroma of cherry pie.
Heade painted this small still life early in his career, during an enormously productive six-month period in which he sought to raise funds for an extensive trip to South America. Over the next forty years, he painted nearly 150 still lifes, including a wide range of native and tropical flowers.
