A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Robert Blum distinguished himself as an artist at an early age and began experimenting with pastel, watercolor, and etching after his 1880 stay in Venice, where he worked alongside the expatriate James McNeill Whistler. A Garland of Roses, with its classically robed figure, narrow Japanesque format, and subtle arrangement of harmonious color, reveals Blum’s familiarity with Whistler and his contemporaries.