Twee bloemstillevens c. 1870

Vicomte Arthur-Jean Le Bailly d'Inghuem made this print, Twee bloemstillevens, using etching. Still-life imagery has a long history of reflecting social values. In 19th-century Europe, the rise of the middle class created a new market for art that celebrated domestic life and material possessions. Floral arrangements, like these, became a symbol of cultivation and refinement. The artist was a nobleman, therefore we can assume he had strong ties to the aristocratic institutions of his time. He may have felt the need to justify the existence of the aristocracy, by emphasizing his ties to an aesthetic and intellectual culture. To understand the art of this era, we can look at periodicals, exhibition catalogs, and other publications. These sources help us to reconstruct the social and intellectual world in which the artist was working. Art is always produced in response to specific social and institutional conditions.