Dead Plant was painted at the end of Rogers’ forty-year-long career. It displays the broader style of execution which he developed from the mid-1950s, with generously applied sweeps of the brush and an exacting use of impasto around the leaves of the plant. It was included in the last solo exhibition of Rogers’ work in his lifetime, held at Fischer Fine Art in 1978. As Bruce Laughton wrote in the exhibition catalogue, 'Rogers is not interested in conventional symbols'. Dead Plant supports this suggestion, defying norms of beauty and suggesting Rogers’ attentiveness to that which is easily passed over. Indeed, the painting’s deadpan title indicates a serious interest in the bathetic, unglamorous and understated subjects. The title is also tinged with morbidity and may suggest Rogers’ growing sense of gloom about his own ill health. The prosaic content of this painting accords with Rogers’ other still-life work and reflects his historical association with the ‘Kitchen Sink’ school of painting. The Blow Lamp (1953, Tate Collection), acquired by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest in 1954, shows a similarly low-key subject to that depicted in Dead Plant. In both cases, Rogers selected unremarkable subjects, with the intention of bringing them to life through the craft of his medium. His rigorously observation-driven practice made all manner of subjects interesting to him, and Dead Plant suggests the longevity of his acute visual sense.