These two Bouquets of flowers (P001043 and P001042) perfectly exemplify Paret’s mastery in truthfully and beautifully representing nature, as well as his ability to execute compositions in which the harmony of shapes, colour and light emphasise the pleasure of contemplation. The smooth modelling as well as the detailed and thorough depiction of the different flower species – achieved through the artist’s remarkable technical prowess, use of a wide range of colours and observation of the reflections from life – confer upon the flowers a palpable quality and extraordinary delicacy and freshness. These paintings hold a prominent position among European still lifes.

The paintings were documented in 1818 in the Royal Collection. Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez thought they might have come from the collection of Prince Charles (the future Charles IV, King of Spain) located in the Casita del Príncipe at El Escorial. Nevertheless, the absence of the inscription ‘Pe. Nro. Sor.’ (Prince Our Lord) on the back of the original canvases – which is not unusual in works from that collection – casts doubt on this hypothesis. It seems more plausible that the works were acquired by Charles IV in 1807 and, as Andrés Sánchez López stated, correspond to the ‘two flower arrangements by Paret’ in the inventory of the 156 paintings in the collection of the royal gilder Andrés del Peral.

Despite the fact that both paintings were conceived as a pair, each one has been signed. One of them, Bouquet of flowers with a blue and white ribbon, bears the artist’s elegant signature – towards which a rosebud leans – traced with a brush and yellow pigment to the right of the ribbon. The other bears the initial of Paret’s name in white in the same place, the rest of which is depicted in a less visible tone nearly blending in with the background. The first of the bouquets was most certainly intended to be placed to the left of its companion, judging by the orientation of the main flowers in both paintings, which point towards each other. Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez and Juan J. Luna (2008–11) rightly dated them to Paret’s Bilbao period on account of his technique and the outline of the flowers, which can be compared to those in the portraits of the artist’s wife and daughters from 1783 and in the painting Virgin Mary with Child and James the Great from 1786. There is also a possibility that the painter sent them to Madrid without frames, planning for them be manufactured there with gilded spandrels. This idea can be inferred by the ochre colour of the canvas spandrels. They may have been left in the hands of the gilder Andrés del Peral upon the decease of the recipient, who may have been the Infante Don Luis.

Paret’s originality can be perceived in the design of oval spaces for the flower arrangements, which was unusual in this genre of painting. He may have been inspired by the garlands framing religious scenes or vanitas in 17th-century paintings, such as those by Brueghel the Elder or Bartolomé Pérez in the Royal Collection. Another unusual detail in paintings on this subject is the absence of containers, namely glasses or vases of water to hold the bouquets. Paret may have taken the idea of representing the flowers tied with silk ribbons and showing the ends of their branches cut-off from the 11 etchings of flower bouquets in the Recueil de différents bouquets de fleurs, inventé et dessiné par Jean Pillement, et gravé par P. C. Canot, published in 1760 in London and Paris and republished in 1767. In addition, on its cover, the title of the series is framed by a garland of flowers. These flower bouquets recall those of the Spanish painter in their detail and their elegant composition, even though Paret outshone the French artist in evoking the freshness of freshly cut flowers and (with a hint of melancholy) their transience.

Maurer, Gudrun, 'Luis Paret y Alcázar. Ramillete de flores con lazo blanquiazul' En:. Paret, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2022, p.142-143 nº 31