Whether a humble hollyhock likeness or lavishly detailed landscape, the paintings of Dennis Miller Bunker (1861-1890) are illustrative of his efforts to describe beauty simply for its own sake. In this quest he would be dazzled by the resplendence of meadow scenes in Massachusetts, where jazzy daisies and lustrous buttercups are on display set off by sparkling, swirling river waters. The up-tempo songs of catbirds and the booming of bullfrogs there furnished a first-rate soundtrack against which Bunker painted alfresco à la Monet. In this naturalistic setting he would create some of his most notable works. Alas, the impermanent petals he painted would augur his own brief life.