In the early part of her career, Mary Fedden (1915-2012) produced beautiful, formally arranged flower pieces such as this, Flowers 1 (1948, RWA). As her biographer, Christopher Andreae writes, "part of the appeal of her work lies in its apparent simplicity coupled with its exquisite execution, anchored in the long pictorial tradition of Dutch still life and underpinned by her early formation at the Slade School of Art".