Julian Alden Weir (1852-1919), Silver Chalice with Roses, 1882, oil on canvas, 12 x 9 inches. Brigham Young University Museum of Art, purchase/gift of Mahonri M. Young Estate, 1959, and with funds provided by Thomas R. and Diane Stevenson Stone, 2011.
“To Anna Dwight Baker from J. Alden Weir/May 18th/ 1882 N.Y.” American artist J. Alden Weir studied art in France for four years and made repeated trips there after his return to the United States. He painted this lovely still life as a birthday gift for his fiancé, Anna Dwight Baker, nearly a year before they were married. Blooming roses and a beautiful silver chalice seem fitting symbols of his devotion and an appropriate painting for Valentine’s Day weekend. He may have purchased the silver cup abroad, as he collected many beautiful objects in Europe. On their five-month European honeymoon, he wrote home that he and Anna had purchased “nearly five thousand pots” for the décor of their new home.