George Cochran Lambdin

George Cochran Lambdin was the son of painter James Lambdin. The family moved to Philadelphia in the 1830s, and George enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). He began his career in his twenties as a portrait artist but soon moved to genre paintings of women and children, which he exhibited at PAFA and the National Academy of Design. During the Civil War Lambdin worked with United States Sanitary Commission, distributing medicines and bandages to troops in the field. He also painted genre scenes of the battlefield campsites and domestic scenes that often included soldiers.

Lambdin eventually settled permanently in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, which at the time was an important center for domestic gardening and horticulture. The area was renowned for its nurseries and gardens. Lambdin lived in a modest house but had a gardener and greenhouse where he grew the flowers that became the subjects of his most acclaimed body of work: still life. Lambdin’s paintings of roses were particularly popular among collectors and critics alike. In all his still paintings, he combined scientific accuracy with poetic sensitivity to create works that were at once beautiful and arresting.