Still Life with Peaches
Raphaelle Peale
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
A Poor Man’s Still Lifes
With a few objects arranged on a ledge before an indistinct background, Raphaelle Peale’s paintings suggest a restraint that perhaps reflects the impoverished circumstances of the artist’s life. Still Life with Cake portrays only a blemished apple, raisins, and a “poor man’s pound cake,” usually made from leftover dough, to which sugar or nutmeg would be added. In Still Life with Peaches, the relatively expensive dessert bowl adds refinement to the composition, but in all likelihood, Peale did not own it.
With a few objects arranged on a ledge before an indistinct background, Raphaelle Peale’s paintings suggest a restraint that perhaps reflects the impoverished circumstances of the artist’s life. Still Life with Cake portrays only a blemished apple, raisins, and a “poor man’s pound cake,” usually made from leftover dough, to which sugar or nutmeg would be added. In Still Life with Peaches, the relatively expensive dessert bowl adds refinement to the composition, but in all likelihood, Peale did not own it.
Caption
Raphaelle Peale (American, 1774–1825). Still Life with Peaches, 1821. Oil on panel, 12 13/16 × 19 5/16 in. (32.5 × 49 cm) frame: 18 × 24 1/2 × 2 in. (45.7 × 62.2 × 5.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Caroline H. Polhemus Fund, 35.1865. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Still Life with Peaches
Date
1821
Medium
Oil on panel
Classification
Dimensions
12 13/16 × 19 5/16 in. (32.5 × 49 cm) frame: 18 × 24 1/2 × 2 in. (45.7 × 62.2 × 5.1 cm)
Signatures
Signed lower right: "Raphaelle Peale Septr. 14th. 1821."
Credit Line
Caroline H. Polhemus Fund
Accession Number
35.1865
Frequent Art Questions
Are these sorts of still life paintings just a display of skill, or are they supposed to mean something more?
They are actually both! They express or advertise the artist's skills, but still lifes also traditionally have overtones of the ephemerality of life.The luxuries depicted here are beautiful but the fruit would go bad very quickly. See if you can spot any signs that any of it is past its prime.
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