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Still Life: Flowers and Fruit

1850–55
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 736
Over a dozen varieties of fresh flowers and fruit are featured in this visual spectacle. Nineteenth-century improvements in cultivation and shipping practices enabled the extravagant assortment, which includes a tropical pineapple and a pomegranate that allude to the nation’s future bounty. A German immigrant, Roesen fled the revolutions of 1848 for the promises of America. He exhibited in New York in the 1850s, sending eleven paintings to the American Art-Union’s Free Gallery exhibitions between 1848 and 1852. In 1863 he settled in Pennsylvania, where his patrons included lumber industry moguls who reveled in the perceived limitlessness of American resources.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Still Life: Flowers and Fruit
  • Artist: Severin Roesen (American (born Prussia), Boppard-am-Rhein 1816–72?)
  • Date: 1850–55
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 40 x 50 3/8 in. (101.6 x 128 cm)
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Bequest of Charles Allen Munn, by exchange, Fosburgh Fund Inc. and Mr. and Mrs. J. William Middendorf II Gifts, and Henry G. Keasbey Bequest, 1967
  • Object Number: 67.111
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Still Life Fruit and Wine Glass, Severin Roesen American, Oil on board with gold leaf frame, American
Still Life Fruit and Wine Glass
Severin Roesen
1865–70
Still Life with Strawberries in a Compote, Severin Roesen American, Oil on board with gold leaf frame, American
Still Life with Strawberries in a Compote
Severin Roesen
1865–70
Still Life: Fruit, Severin Roesen American, Oil on canvas, American
Still Life: Fruit
Severin Roesen
1855
Ernesta (Child with Nurse), Cecilia Beaux American, Oil on canvas, American
Ernesta (Child with Nurse)
Cecilia Beaux
1894
The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, Albert Bierstadt American, Oil on canvas, American
The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak
Albert Bierstadt
1863

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