Lot 101: RAPHAELLE PEALE 1774 - 1825

RAPHAELLE PEALE 1774 - 1825 FRUIT, NUTS AND GRAPES oil on panel 7 by 9 in. (17.8 by 22.9 cm) Painted circa 1818.

Lillian B. Miller, "Father and Son: The Relationship of Charles Willson Peale and Raphaelle Peale," The American Art Journal, vol. XXV, no's. 1 and 2, 1993, illustrated

Isaac Collins, New York, circa 1818 (acquired directly from the artist)
Thomas Collins, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (his son)
Arthur Collins (his son)
Mary Collins (his daughter)
Seeley Arthur Wallen (her son)
Flo Crookshaw Wallen (his daughter)
By descent in the family to the present owner (her great granddaughter)

As has often been noted, the Peale family shared a special predilection for illusionistic deception and artifice in their painting. Only two members of the family, Raphaelle and James, took up still-life painting in earnest, and under their auspices Philadelphia became the center of still-life painting in the early 19υth century. Although younger than his uncle James, Raphaelle is regarded as the earliest professional American still-life painter.

It is estimated that Raphaelle completed as many as one-hundred and fifty still-lifes in his career, of which roughly fifty have survived. Peale appears to have established two basic approaches to this subject; one small and intimate as seen here in Fruit, Nuts and Grapes and, the other large and more elaborate. His sparer arrangements are usually placed on a plain ledge or shelf, parallel to the picture plane where the viewer can contemplate the formal order of the composition and the perfect definition of form. While his depictions of fruit appear to have been the most prevalent, he also painted other types of food as well as crockery and tableware. In Fruit, Nuts and Grapes, Peale creates highly detailed, yet delicate surface textures in the skin of the fruit and the intricate shells of the nuts. Save a few grapes and one cracked nut, all the food is confined to a small silver dish and with a limited use of light, subtle highlights accentuate the intimate composition. Observing his son was especially gifted in this area, Charles Willson Peale encouraged him although he still hoped Raphaelle would develop in the more prestigious realm of portrait painting. In 1817 he wrote, "If you applied yourself as you ought to do, you would be the first in America. Your pictures of still life are acknowledged to be, even by the painters here, far exceeding all other works of that kind..."