Artwork
Red Cherries
Red Cherries is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Robert Spear Dunning. It dates from 1866 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:upper center reverse: R.S. Dunning 1866
About this work
The painting shows a small bowl of red cherries on a table. The artist used simple still-life objects to create a sense of quiet and calm. This style was common during the 19th century, and it's interesting to see how the artist used everyday objects to create a peaceful scene. The artist's use of light and color is similar to the technique of glazing.
Technique & Style
No specific details regarding the artist's handling, brushwork, or the current physical condition of the surface are provided in the available records.
Executed in 1866, Red Cherries is an oil painting applied to a canvas support. The work measures 16.51 cm in height and 22.86 cm in width, characterizing it as a small-scale still life. The composition focuses on the formal arrangement of fruit, utilizing the properties of oil paint to render the subject matter.
No specific details regarding the artist's handling, brushwork, or the current physical condition of the surface are provided in the available records.
History & Provenance
Robert Spear Dunning created the oil painting Red Cherries in 1866. The work remained in the collection of Henry M. Fuller of Manchester, New Hampshire, by at least 1966, when it was lent to an exhibition. Upon Fuller's death in 2001, the painting was bequeathed to William H. and Abigail Booth Gerdts of New York.
The Gerdts subsequently gifted the artwork to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 2018, where it is currently held.
Robert Spear Dunning's Red Cherries (1866) is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The work entered the museum in 2018 as a gift from William H. and Abigail Booth Gerdts, who had received it by bequest in 2001 from Henry M. Fuller of Manchester, New Hampshire. Fuller owned the painting by at least 1966, the same year he lent it to an exhibition. The National Gallery of Art maintains the painting as part of its permanent holdings.
Overview
Robert Spear Dunning’s 1866 oil on canvas entitled Red Cherries presents a modest still‑life: a solitary bowl of ripe, red fruit rests upon a simple tabletop. The composition is restrained, focusing attention on the quiet arrangement rather than narrative drama, and exemplifies the mid‑nineteenth‑century interest in domestic subjects rendered with careful observation.
Subject & Meaning
The work isolates everyday objects, a bowl and a handful of cherries, to evoke a sense of calm and contemplation. By limiting the visual field to these humble items, Dunning invites viewers to consider the quiet beauty of ordinary moments, a theme common in Victorian still‑life that emphasizes modesty and the appreciation of simple pleasures.
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