Still Life Fruit in a Classical Setting

An engagingly provincial artist, John Vanderlyn, Jr., painted both houses and pictures. In this still life, he shares the idea of bountifulness that characterized so much mid-century American still-life painting by better-known artists of the period. Pears were popular during this era, and accordingly dominate in this composition. The artist contrasts nature's bounty with elegant objects in a variety of materials: glass, ceramics, silver, marble, wood, and fabric. The whole display is theatrically presented with a raised curtain hanging above and a proscenium-like arch derived from an architectural pattern book. The painting's large size suggests that it was destined to be the decorative center of attention in a dining room, a new development for American still-life painting during the 1850s.