Everything's Coming Up Roses

June is national rose month. Enjoy some lovely roses freshly picked from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The fluid application of paint lovingly depicts these flowers, of which a critic said, "A bowl of roses in Thayer's hands becomes more than a flower-piece; it is a glimpse into the very center of beauty."

Source: Abbott Handerson Thayer (Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art, 1999) at http://americanart.si.edu/collections/exhibits/thayer/index.html.

Pictured: Abbott Handerson Thayer, 1849–1921, Roses, ca. 1896, oil, 22 3/8 x 31 3/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly.