Artwork
Floral Piece with Pineapple, Grapes and Parrot

Floral Piece with Pineapple, Grapes and Parrot is an oil painting by the Biedermeier artist Franz Xaver Petter. It dates from 1833 and is held in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Together these elements convey themes of prosperity and the fleeting nature of earthly pleasures within a devotional still life context.
The painting presents a still life composition featuring a pineapple, assorted grapes, and a parrot arranged among blooming flowers. The inclusion of a pineapple, a costly imported fruit, signifies wealth and status, while grapes may allude to abundance or the Eucharist, and the parrot often symbolized exoticism or the ability to mimic speech. Together these elements convey themes of prosperity and the fleeting nature of earthly pleasures within a devotional still life context.
The work measures 95 cm in height and 73 cm in width, painted in oil on panel around 1833 by Franz Xaver Petter for the Belvedere, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Symbolically, the pineapple functions as a marker of affluence due to its rarity, grapes suggest material plenty, and the parrot reflects the owner's worldly sophistication or connection to tropical trade networks.
Technique & Style
Franz Xaver Petter executed Floral Piece with Pineapple, Grapes and Parrot in 1833 using oil paint on a wooden panel. The artwork measures 95 by 73 centimeters. As a work within the still life genre, its composition formally centers on a floral arrangement that incorporates the titular pineapple and grapes, alongside a depicted parrot.
The choice of panel as a support provides a rigid, stable ground for the medium, allowing for the precise rendering of textures and details characteristic of the genre.
History & Provenance
Floral Piece with Pineapple, Grapes and Parrot was created in 1833 by Franz Xaver Petter, executed in oil paint as a still-life composition. The painting is held in the collection of the Belvedere, where it is located, with the work also associated with the holdings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. No further details regarding commission, prior ownership, or intermediate provenance are documented in the available sources.
The work is recorded as having been produced in 1833, with its inception dated to that year, and is catalogued as an oil painting on panel measuring 95 cm in height and 73 cm in width.
Floral Piece with Pineapple, Grapes and Parrot is held in the Belvedere collection in Vienna, with the work also associated with the holdings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The painting, executed in oil on panel, measures 95 by 73 cm and dates to 1833.
No specific inventory or accession number is recorded in the available sources, and no exhibition history is documented.
Overview
Floral Piece with Pineapple, Grapes and Parrot is an 1833 oil painting by Franz Xaver Petter, an Austrian still-life painter. The work features a vibrant arrangement of flowers, a pineapple, grapes, and a parrot, characterized by meticulous detail and vivid coloration.
Context
This work reflects the Biedermeier era's emphasis on domesticity and detailed realism. Petter's shift from porcelain decoration to oil painting also highlights the period's artistic diversification. The use of a parrot adds an element of exoticism, common in 19th-century still lifes.
Legacy
Floral Piece with Pineapple, Grapes and Parrot exemplifies Petter's contribution to the Biedermeier movement, influencing subsequent still-life traditions with its blend of realism, vibrant color, and compositional balance. It remains a notable example of Vienna's early 19th-century artistic output.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Franz Xaver Andreas Petter (23 October 1791 – 11 May 1866) was an Austrian artist.











