Still Life—Strawberries, Nuts, &c.
Raphaelle Peale
1822
During
Raphaelle
Peale’s
time,
still
life
was
not
esteemed
by
most
artists,
relegated
to
the
bottom
of
the
hierarchy
of
painting
subjects.
Yet
Peale
ignored
its
low
status
and
is
now
acknowledged
as
America’s
first
professional
still-life
painter
and
leading
practitioner
of
the
genre.
Born
into
an
artistic
Philadelphia
family,
Raphaelle
was
the
eldest
son
of
Charles
Willson
Peale
and
the
nephew
of
James
Peale,
both
artists;
his
siblings
were,
like
him,
named
after
famous
old
master
painters
(he
had
brothers
named
Rembrandt,
Titian,
and
Rubens).
Characterized
by
crisp
forms
and
serenely
balanced
compositions,
most
of
Peale’s
still
lifes
portray
food,
crockery,
and
glassware
arranged
on
a
plain
shelf,
parallel
to
the
picture
plane.
In
this
particularly
fine
example,
the
rhythmic
balance
of
fruit,
nuts,
and
Chinese
export
porcelain
is
enlivened
by
the
diagonal
branch
of
grapes
becoming
raisins
and
an
orange
leaf.
These
objects
are
brightly
illuminated
against
a
bare,
dark
background
in
the
manner
of
the
dramatic
still-life
compositions
of
17th-century
painters
such
as
Juan
Sánchez
Cotán
.
Peale
may
have
seen
the
Spanish
artist's
work
when
it
was
shown
at
the
Pennsylvania
Academy
of
the
Fine
Arts
in
1818.
| Title | Still Life—Strawberries, Nuts, &c. |
|---|---|
| Artist | Raphaelle Peale |
| Date | 1822 |
| Medium | Oil on wood panel |
| Style | Realism |
| Dimensions | 41.1 × 57.8 cm (16 3/16 × 22 3/4 in.) |