Frontispiece for Bonvin Album

In 1866 William T. Walters commissioned a deluxe album from French art dealer Georges Petit (1856–1920) to house his growing collection of watercolors by the French watercolorist Léon Bonvin (1834-1866). This album tells us a great deal about how Walters viewed this artist. Placing the watercolors in an album helped preserve them and enhanced the sense of their preciousness, while encouraging intimate, close-up viewing of the individual works. For his album, Walters commissioned a decorative frontispiece and tailpiece from the flower painter Jean-Marie Reignier; these were completed by early 1867. This is Reignier's frontispiece which reads "Near Paris by Léon Bonvin." [source]

Commissioned by William T. Walters, 1867