Artwork
Still Life, Flowers, and Fruit
Still Life, Flowers, and Fruit is an oil painting by the American Folk Art artist Severin Roesen. It dates from 1848 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower right: S. Roesen 1848
About this work
Severin Roesen painted these bright flowers in a vase in 1848, set beside ripe peaches, plums, and grapes on a wooden table. Deep reds, soft yellows, and cool greens stand against a plain dark ground, the fruit rendered with careful shading.
Subject & Meaning
Its depiction aligns with the genre's focus on inanimate objects, emphasizing the careful rendering of botanical detail.
The work, titled Still Life, Flowers, and Fruit, presents a composition of assorted blossoms and fruit, characteristic of the nineteenth-century American still-life genre. It is an oil on canvas painting completed in 1848, depicting flowers and fruit as its principal subjects. The painting passed through the James Graham & Sons gallery, was purchased in 1961 by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and was acquired in 2014 by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Its depiction aligns with the genre's focus on inanimate objects, emphasizing the careful rendering of botanical detail.
Technique & Style
The work is executed in oil on canvas, measuring approximately 91.4 cm by 66.0 cm (height × width) and dated 1848. The support is a stretched canvas prepared for oil painting, and the paint is applied with a fine, layered brushwork that emphasizes the delicate rendering of petals and the textured surface of fruit. Roesen's handling preserves the translucency of oil pigments, creating subtle chiaroscuro that models each element while maintaining a flat, decorative composition characteristic of mid-nineteenth-century American still life.
The formal arrangement balances clusters of blossoms with ripe produce, producing a harmonious spatial depth despite the shallow picture plane.
History & Provenance
Still Life, Flowers, and Fruit was painted by Severin Roesen in 1848, executed in oil on canvas and portraying a bouquet of flowers alongside fruit. Its early ownership is documented with the New York dealer James Graham & Sons before the Corcoran Gallery of Art acquired it in 1961. Upon the dissolution of the Corcoran's collection, the work was transferred to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 2014, where it remains in the permanent collection.
No record of a specific commission or patron is noted in the available documentation, and the records do not list specific accession numbers or exhibition history for either museum.
Context
Still Life, Flowers, and Fruit is an 1848 oil on canvas painting by Severin Roesen that is classified as a still life and portrays flowers and fruit. The work was sold by James Graham & Sons and entered the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington in 1961, later being acquired by the National Gallery of Art in 2014, where it now resides. Its provenance reflects the movement of nineteenth-century American still-life paintings through major institutional channels, and its presence in a national museum underscores its significance within the genre.
Overview
Severin Roesen's oil on canvas painting, "Still Life, Flowers, and Fruit," was completed in 1848. This work exemplifies the artist's characteristic approach to the still life genre, featuring a vibrant arrangement of natural elements. It presents a detailed tableau of botanical and horticultural subjects, rendered with a focus on visual richness and meticulous detail.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Severin Roesen (c. 1815 in Boppard – c. 1872) was a Prussian-American painter known for his abundant fruit and flower still lifes, and is today recognized as one of the major American painters in that genre from the nineteenth century.
