Samuel John Peploe R.S.A. (1871-1935)
Still Life of Tulips in a Vase (Portrait of a Lady verso)
Oil on canvas
Signed
20 x 16 ins (51 x 41 cms)
c. Late 1920s
SOLD
Provenance
Collection of Walter Quarry Wood (friend of F.C.B.Cadell) and thence by descent **
The quest for the perfect still life absorbed Peploe for the greater part of his life, almost to the point of obsession as his brother-in-law Frederick Porter remarked, 'All his still life were carefully arranged and considered before he put them on canvas. When this was done - it often took several days to accomplish - he seemed to have absorbed everything necessary for transmitting them to canvas. The result was a canvas covered without any apparent effort. If a certain touch was wrong it was soon obliterated by the palette knife. The whole canvas had to finished in one painting so as to preserve complete continuity'.
By the late 1920s, from which 'Still Life of Tulips in a Vase' dates, Peploe returned with more subtlety to the muted colours of Cezanne. His subsequent paintings are cooler in palette and focused on tonal harmony, with loose brushwork and accents of warm colour to enliven the overall effect.
** Walter Quarry Wood was President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and a friend and a patron of F.C.B. Cadell. He collected works by the Colourists over three decades, which he then left to his daughter, Elizabeth, upon his death.