Formal Still Life

Date1830-1860

MediumWatercolor and pencil on wove paper

DimensionsPrimary Support: 14 1/2 x 11 3/4in. (36.8 x 29.8cm) and Framed: 17 1/2 x 14 3/4in.

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1931.303.5

DescriptionArrangement of fruit and flowers in cut glass vase, resting on marble base. Bunch of blue grapes on left, green grapes on right, cherries above peaches in center of vase, and a spray of bluebells on top. Leaves and tendrils throughout. Fancy vase has scalloped rim, oak-leaf detailed support and circular foot. Greens and blues dominant tones, with light shadings for vase and marble. Very well detailed picture. Good use of theorems and colors. Artist unidentified.
Label TextThe survival of numerous examples of this composition in a variety of mediums indicates that it was a popular exercise piece, although no recorded histories link it directly to the school arts tradition. Variations among most of the versions are slight, suggesting that stencils were provided either commercially or by a teacher.
A lithograph of the composition has been noted; while it is undated, its printers --- Kelloggs & Comstock --- apparently operated only during the brief period of 1848-1850 [n. 1]. The print may have inspired at least some of the many known versions of the "Formal Still Life" composition, but some earlier source must have been used for a now unlocated but very similarly designed watercolor on paper, if information about that work's 1831 date is correct [n. 2]. Until additional research clarifies the origin of the composition, a relatively wide date span has been suggested for the Folk Art Museum's examples.
ProvenanceFound in Boston, Mass., by Edith Gregor Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York, NY; purchased from Halpert by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; given to CWF by Rockefeller in 1939.