[Laurel blossoms in a blue vase]

Whittredge is best known as a member of the second generation of Hudson River School landscape painters. For this work he exercised his skill with watercolor to depict a more humble subject than was his habit. The artist applied repeated washes of blue to enhance the deep, reflective surface of the vase; the dappled brown background, a warm contrast to the vessel, reveals the same technique of layering rich, translucent colors. Whittredge painted the laurel blossoms in varying degrees of finish and brightness. The most brilliant and detailed of them appear just above the edge of the vase in the center of the painting, a focal point for the viewer. By comparison, the other blossoms appear to recede into shadow.