Jug of Flowers

John Nash 1893 - 1977

Summary

A still life group of pink and white wild flowers in a pale pottery jug, sitting on a round table top. The backdrop behind them is the corner of a sitting room, including a red armchair to the right and a curtained window to the left. This still life was painted in the artist's sitting room at his home in Buckinghamshire where he lived from 1922 to 1944. In a letter to the gallery from 11 July 1954 Nash wrote: "I have used the jug several times which is the only large vessel I possess and which I got in a jumble sale and still have. The flowers consisted of two kinds of Spiraea, a pink Poterium and a species of cultivated sea holly...". The flowers were all picked from his garden. Nash has exploited the dramatic effect of setting white (of the Spiraea) against black (of the cushion and the walls, painted with bituminous paint to resist the damp).