Masterfully impressionistic still life with scattered lilacs and may-beetle was executed by famous French painter Georges Jeannin (1841–1925). Georges Jeannin was born in Paris in 1841. He was a pupil of Vincelet and went on to be a most prolific and popular flower painter. Known for his still lifes, Jeannin debuted at the Paris Salon in 1868 where he exhibited regularly. The French State bought many of his flower paintings. In conjunction with A. Cesbron he decorated the Salon de Passage in the Hôtel de Ville in Paris. He was the chairman of the Societe de Peintres de Fleurs and he was conferred with the award of Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur in 1903. This is the highest honor that a civilian can be awarded in France. Americans traveled to Paris to study with Georges Jeannin. Among them were the great American flower painter Abbott Fuller Graves who traveled back and forth to continue studying with Georges Jeannin. Julia Dillon, a Kingston, New York artist studied with him. Georges Jeannin was considered to be the foremost flower painter in Europe. Many artists devoted their artistic careers to still life painting including Georges Jeannin, Eugène Claude, Madeleine Lemaire, Eugène-Henri Cauchois, and Henri Fantin-Latour. Still life painting had a long history of providing decorative details to a home and since a new class of bourgeois with new money had been gaining more status in society, there was a surge in the interest of interior decoration and pictures such as those provided by these artists satisfied their desire for a unified and beautiful interior decorating scheme. In the 1860’s and 70’s the Impressionists made a name for themselves by focusing on everyday life for subject matter. This influenced artists throughout France. Georges Jeannin was interested in depicting modern life, including scenes of embarkation, holidays and the market. His work was especially admired by Vincent Van Gogh. In 1878 he joined the Societaire des Artistes Francais Jeannin’s works have been conserved in museums throughout France. Literature: E. Benezit " Dictionary of painters, sculptors, decorators and etchers"(in French), Paris, 1999; Thieme/Becker, Leipzig,1999 ( in German). Inscription: signed lower left. Technique: oil on canvas. Salon gold-plated frame. Measurements: unframed w 21 2/3" x h 12 2/3" (55 x 32 cm); framed w 26 1/3 " x h 16 1/2 " (67 x 42 cm) Condition: in very good condition.