Artwork
Raspberries
Raspberries is an oil painting by the American Folk Art artist Lilly Martin Spencer. It dates from 1859 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower left: L.M.S.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition likely features the fruit arranged in a brown basket or on a catalpa leaf, reflecting a specific commission request made by Helen Sanger Mellen.
Lilly Martin Spencer's 1859 painting Raspberries is a still life centered on the depiction of raspberries, the work's main subject. The composition likely features the fruit arranged in a brown basket or on a catalpa leaf, reflecting a specific commission request made by Helen Sanger Mellen. In her November 1859 correspondence, Mellen asked for a small, oval painting of raspberries similar to a rectangular version she knew was owned by Mr. Beecher.
While the work is a straightforward botanical study, its creation was driven by this personal patronage, linking the imagery directly to the tastes and requests of Mellen and the broader social circle that included the Beecher family.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1859, this work is an oil painting on canvas. The composition focuses on the subject of raspberries, categorizing it within the still life genre. While specific details regarding the artist's brushwork, surface condition, or the precise handling of the paint are not explicitly described in the available records, the medium and support are firmly established as oil and canvas respectively. The piece represents a mid-nineteenth-century approach to depicting fruit, adhering to traditional materials of the period.
History & Provenance
Raspberries was painted by Lilly Martin Spencer in 1859. According to a 1973 exhibition catalogue, the work may have been commissioned that year by Helen Sanger Mellen of Brooklyn, who wrote to Spencer on 17 November 1859 requesting a small, oval still life of raspberries in a brown basket or on a catalpa leaf, similar to a rectangular example owned by a "Mr. Beecher." A note on the original letter identifies Mellen as the sister of the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, leading to the assumption that Spencer produced two still lifes of raspberries, one for Beecher and one for Mellen.
The painting later passed through two private collections in California before entering the Spanierman Gallery in New York. On 19 October 2003 it was purchased by William H. and Abigail Booth Gerdts of New York, who in 2005 gave it, as a partial and promised gift, to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, D.C. It entered the collection as a partial and promised gift from William H. and Abigail Booth Gerdts in 2005, following their purchase of the work on 19 October 2003 from Spanierman Gallery, New York.
The work was featured in the 1973 exhibition Lilly Martin Spencer, 1822-1902: The Joys of Sentiment at the National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C., where it was discussed in the exhibition catalogue by Robin Bolton-Smith, William H. Truettner, and Cynthia D. Perlis.
Overview
Lilly Martin Spencer's painting, Raspberries, created around 1859, is an oil on canvas still life. This intimate work presents a close study of the fruit, rendered with careful attention to detail. It exemplifies the artist's engagement with domestic subjects, transforming a simple, everyday item into a focal point for artistic contemplation. The painting's modest scale contributes to its delicate and focused presentation.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Lilly Martin Spencer was born in Exeter, England, on November 26, 1822, to French intellectual parents who supported abolitionism and women's education.
