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The Complete Works of Philippe Smit
by Andreas Narzt and Florence Castellani

Catalogue entry

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Photo: Christopher Burke Studios, NY; © FdDPS
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Classification: Painting
Theme: still Life
Medium: Oil
Support: On canvas
Year: 1919
PS 188 (P 179; LNC 112)
Bouquet of Roses with Brambles
Alternate titles: Bouquet de roses; Roses et ronces; Vase of Roses
1919
Oil on canvas (relined)
47 5/16 x 43 5/16 in. (120 x 110 cm)
Signed upper right: Philippe/ Smit
On the back: exposition label Philadelphia on the frame upper center.
Inscrbed and dated on the back (fig. 1), most probably a text by Philippe Smit copied by the restaurer after relining: Les baumes Paradisiasques/ des roses,/ consolatrice au cœur Martyrisé de/ Nico, qui/ Lui_/ dans l’Apocalypse de l’Art Terra-céleste/ -Bible sur-païen et sur-religieuse_/ figure- de paternelle bonté TanTôT en Joseph pieux_/ TanTôT en Promethée/ grimacant, revolté./ Foudre Sans Tonnerre,/ feu-follet qui erre. …/ Plutôt devoré que ne crucifié de ses propres Sacrifices/ Priere:/ Que, dans son bapteme de pleurs d’amour,/ Le Christ de l’Art, ah ! Homme blème_/ Délivre ton cœur d’inquietude,/ Comme, dans une Noturne béatitude/ Il lit au Noble/ Nicodème, 26 sept 1979 [sic]
The Lord's New Church, Bryn Athyn, PA
Inventories
Inv. Nicolaas Urban, 1930, s.n., private archives: no. [01] [ P 179]: Bloemstuk in olieverf. ?
Inv. T. P., Ptgs etc. at Bryn Athyn, n.d. [c. 1940], Glencairn archives: no. [21] [P 179]: p. [1], Roses, Smit, 43 1/2 x 48 [in.].
Inv. Pitcairn, n.d. [c.1957], n.p., LNC archives: no. P 179: Rev. Theodore Pitcairn, Bouquet of Roses, Smit, Oil, 46 1/2 x 42 1/2 [in.].
Inv. LNC, 1984, updated Oct. 1998, LNC archives: no. P 179: p. 1, The Church - Church, Bouquet of Roses, Pastel, 46 1/2 x 42 1/2 [in.].
Exhibitions
1920 Sparren
Kunsthandel De Heem, Atelier 'de Sparren', Laren, Netherlands, Tentoonstelling Phillippe Smit, October 03–11, 1920, no. 30, as Roses et ronces (De Gooi- en Eemlander 1920a: "… no. 30: 'Roses et roncés [sic]' …").
1960 Philadelphia
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Collection of the Rev. and Mrs. Theodore Pitcairn, June 17–September 15, 1960, no. 17, Oil, 46 1/2 x 42 1/2 [in.], 1918, Vase of Roses, 11-1960-17 (title and n° on the exhibition label).
Literature & Primary Sources
Philippe Smit 1919a
Philippe Smit. APCS to René Massé. Laren, 19 September 1919.
De Gooi- en Eemlander 1920a
H. v. C. "Schilderkunst: Tentoonstelling van schilderijen en pastels door Philippe Smit." De Gooi- en Eemlander (Hilversum), 13-10-1920, p. 2, as Roses et ronces ("… no. 30: 'Roses et roncés [sic]' …").
Niehaus 1955
Niehaus, Kasper. Philippe Smit, unkown genius. Revised and edited by Marjorie Bell. Typescript, 1955, p. 25, as Bouquet de roses.
Notes

"[...] Je suis très/ occupé [à] un tableau que je fais pour/ la fête de notre cher Nico ça/ représente un bouquet de rose[s] avec/ des ronce[s] un très grand bouquet./ J'en suis fatigué [...]" (... I am very busy with a painting I am doing for Nico’s saint’s day, it shows a bouquet of roses with brambles, a very large bouquet. I am exhausted ...) (Philippe Smit 1919a)

Additional images
Painting hanging to the far left in the large living room in Theodore Pitcairn's house, Bryn Athyn (photograph, before 1945, private archives, Paris).
Painting hanging to the far left in the large living room in Theodore Pitcairn's house, Bryn Athyn (photograph, before 1945, private archives, Paris).
FIG. 1
FIG. 1
Record last updated April 29, 2017. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Narzt, Andreas and Castellani, Florence. "Bouquet of Roses with Brambles, 1919 (PS 188)." In The Complete Works of Philippe Smit. www.philippesmit.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=188 (accessed on April 29, 2026).