John Duncan Fergusson 1874-1961

Fergusson first began to paint in the early 1890s and he is thought to have visited Paris for the first time in 1897 in order to study pictures. The present piainting and a slightly later work entitled Packet of Matches and Matchbox display the enthusiasm he felt for the work of Edouard Manet and also the influence of seventeenth century Dutch painting. Paintings from this early period in Fergusson's career are exceptionally rare and the fact that he inscribed this picture (probably at a later date) to state that it was his first still life painting, makes it very interesting. The bottle of Benedictine and the lattice-patterned ginger jar filled with violets, appear in later still lifes by Fergusson's friend Peploe and were presumably borrowed from Fergusson's collection of objects.