Artwork
Still Life with Fruit

Still Life with Fruit is an oil painting by the American Impressionist artist Emilie Preyer. It dates from 1873 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition features a variety of fruit items rendered in oil on canvas, reflecting the 19th‑century interest in everyday domestic subjects.
The painting presents a conventional still‑life arrangement centered on assorted fruit, as indicated by its classification as a still_life work and the descriptor “depicts: fruit” in the catalog records. The composition features a variety of fruit items rendered in oil on canvas, reflecting the 19th‑century interest in everyday domestic subjects. Emilie Preyer’s choice of fruit as the primary motif situates the piece within the broader tradition of still‑life painting, where such subjects often served as visual studies of texture, color, and everyday abundance.
The work is dated 1873 and is housed in the Cleveland Museum of Art, which provides its current collection and location details.
Technique & Style
Still Life with Fruit is an oil painting executed in 1873 on a woven fabric support, as recorded in the work's catalogue data. The artist, Emilie Preyer, employed traditional oil pigments to render a carefully observed arrangement of fruit, emphasizing texture and tonal modulation typical of 19th‑century German still‑life practice. The painting’s modest dimensions (approximately 35 × 46 cm) and the subtle handling of light across the fruit surfaces reflect a restrained, naturalistic style.
Its condition is noted as preserved within the Cleveland Museum of Art collection, with no documented conservation issues reported.
History & Provenance
Still Life with Fruit was painted in 1873 by the German still‑life specialist Emilie Preyer, who signed and dated the work that year. Executed in oil on canvas, the painting remained in the artist’s studio until it entered the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is now housed. The sources do not record any specific commission or intermediate owners; thus the known provenance traces directly from Preyer’s creation to its present custodianship at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Emilie Preyer's 1873 oil painting, Still Life with Fruit, is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland. The work, which depicts fruit on woven fabric and measures 35.0 cm by 46.5 cm, is cataloged under the accession number 458.1915. While the sources confirm the painting's current location and inventory identification within the museum, they do not provide specific details regarding its prior provenance or a record of past exhibition histories.
Overview
Emilie Preyer's Still Life with Fruit, painted in 1873, is an oil on canvas work. This painting showcases the artist's skill in rendering everyday objects with meticulous detail. It is currently part of the collection at The Cleveland Museum of Art, where it represents a notable example of 19th-century still life painting.
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