Jacques Laurent Agasse (1767-1849), La charrette fleurie au printemps , 1822, oil on canvas, monogrammed, 53x44.5 cm Provenance: Charles Chenevière Collection, Geneva, Private collection, Switzerland, Private collection, Switzerland, for over 20 years Exhibitions: Royal Academy, London, 1823, no. 466, Exposition d'œuvres du peintre genevois Jacques-Laurent Agasse (1767-1849), MAH, Geneva, February-March 1930, cat. expo. no. 13, MAH, Geneva, 1936, no. 35, MAH, Geneva, 1942, cat. expo, p. 34, no. 5, Jacques-Laurent Agasse, 1767-1849, ou La séduction de l'Angleterre, MAH, Geneva, 10 November 1988 - 22 January 1989, cat. expo. p. 36, 142-143,162, no. 53, ill. Jacques-Laurent Agasse, 1767-1849, The Tate Gallery, London, 1989, cat. expo. p. 36, 142-143,162, no. 53*, ill. Bibliography: J-L Agasse, Catalogue autographe, 1800-1849, (mentioned as May. 1822, The flowers cart of the spring 18 by 14 ), D. Baud-Bovy, Peintres Genevois 1766-1849, deuxième série, Editions Le Journal de Genève, Genève, 1904, p. 118, 121, ill. b/w., Hardy, 1905, pp. 138-141, Hardy 2, 1917, pp. 9-10, Hardy 2, 1921, p. 101, W.S. Sparrow, British sporting artists from Barlow to Herring, Richard Clay and Son, Ltd, London, 1922, p. 237, (dated 1823), F. Siltzer, The story of British sporting prints, P. Loveday Prints, London, 1929, p. 39, Gielly, March 1930, p. 71, ill, L. Gielly, L'école genevoise de peinture, Ed. Sonor, Genève, 1935, p. 132, 121, A. Bovy, La peinture suisse de 1600 à 1900, Editions Birkhaeuser, Bâle, 1948, p. 89, M.H. Grant, A dictionary of British landscape painters from the 16th to the early 20th century, T. V, F. Lewis, Leigh-on Sea, 1959, p. 390, F. Zelger, Stiftung Oskar Reinhart Winterthur, Vol. I, Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte, Zurich, 1977, no. 9 (painting mentioned) JACQUES LAURENT AGASSE (1767-1849) The Cart in Bloom belongs to the series of genre scenes that Agasse developed from 1822 onwards, and which he exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy. This scene in Soho Square has a singular narrative charm: a flower seller, whose features are those of Agasse himself, converses with two young children, Lionel and Johny Booth, familiar members of his entourage and favourite models of the artist during his years spent in Newman Street, also known as "Artists' Street". Every detail catches the eye: the flowers carefully arranged in the cart make up a remarkably meticulous still life, while the brick façades are bathed in a golden light that evokes the literary atmospheres of Charles Dickens. Two versions of this subject are known. The one shown here, in vertical format, is distinguished by the presence of Lionel Booth and is the artist's first composition, exhibited as early as 1823 at the Royal Academy (no. 466). The second is now in the Kunst Museum in Winterthur. These variations are a reminder of the extent to which Agasse excelled in transposing the "Cries of London". The importance of La charrette fleurie was quickly recognised: the work was presented on several occasions at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Genève, notably during the retrospective Jacques-Laurent Agasse, 1767-1849, ou La séduction de l'Angleterre (1988-1989), which continued at the Tate Gallery in London in 1989, establishing the bridge between the painter's Genevan heritage and his English inspiration. It belonged to Charles Chenevière (1881-1962), pastor of the Plainpalais parish and a leading figure in Geneva's intellectual and spiritual life. With its balanced composition, wealth of detail and delicate execution, La charrette fleurie is a masterpiece by Agasse, and one of the most vibrant testimonies to his sensitive view of urban and family life in London.