Most of Nash's studio still-lifes of flowers were painted in the 1920s and early 1930s. Generally, he was more interested in painting botanical subjects, which are quite different in intent. Flower paintings are first and foremost intended to be beautiful, a celebration of nature's bounty: they are about the pattern and colour of foliage and bloom, and offer formal possibilities of arrangement and design not usually available to the botanical artist. Botanical studies are principally about scientific accuracy, with beauty a secondary concern. This set-up, with the vase of flowers (red hot poker, echinops, sea holly, buddleia and possibly rudbeckia) positioned at the corner of the table, with a group of large art books behind, is a familiar one. That, and a filled jug or vase in front of a window, were his two favourite flower painting formats.

Andrew Lambirth