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Lot Essay
Although relatively little is known about Severin Roesen's life, his working habits, education or artistic training, the body of work he left behind gives substantial evidence to his talent and position as one of the leading contributors and masters of early nineteenth century American still-life painting. His verdant still lifes of fruit and flowers are magnificent examples of the rise in popularity during this period for representations of the lavish in American art. Regarding Roesen, Dr. William H. Gerdts notes, "He is certainly the most famous of all mid-nineteenth-century American specialists today, and judging by the great number of enormous pictures painted by him, it seems that he also was tremendously popular in his own time. Furthermore, the many works that have appeared in recent decades, which are at least similar to Roesen's oeuvre, suggest a powerful influence of Roesen upon other artists." (Painters of the Humble Truth, Columbia, Missouri, 1981, p. 84)
Roesen's still lifes of fruit and flowers appealed to his nineteenth century patrons due to their lush compositions yet logical content. According to Judith O'Toole, Roesen "was preoccupied with recreating the opulent splendor of nature which celebrated the pleasures of the physical world in an optimistic manner." (Severin Roesen, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, 1992, p. 32) He went to great lengths to include a tremendous variety of fruit and flowers in each work and in his best works "the fruit and flowers are combined in great proliferation, leaving no area unfilled. The fruit, flowers, birds' nest, and man-made decorative objects of ceramic and glass are sometimes piled up on a double-tiered table, the tiers almost always of grained grayish marble, which appears to have been his preference. While these often gigantic paintings of literally hundreds of objects have been interpreted as Victorian horror vacui, they are also the ultimate embodiment of mid-century optimism, representing the richness of the land, the profusion of God's bounty in the New world, his blessing upon the American Eden throughout his cornucopia of plenitude." (Painters of the Humble Truth, p. 87)
The present painting, Still Life with Fruit is a superb example of Roesen's talent in exhibiting an elaborate fruit arrangement and decorative objects spilling over a gray marble, double-tiered table. The artist incorporated many of the elements he continuously favored in his works: the basket of peaches, the compote of strawberries, a halved lemon with rind spiral, sliced watermelon, and the wine glass all resting on the table. They are expertly arranged in a classical pyramid composition, supported on all sides by purple and green grapes. The linearity of the composition is softened on top by a compote of peaches and one of strawberries, as well as large grape leaves with curly vines. These elements protrude above and around the image, softening the edges of the composition and adding to the overall lusciousness and implication of bounty.
Gerdts describes the present painting: "An example of Roesen's largest and most elaborate mode of painting [is] dated 1857. Here is a collection of every kind of fruit of every season. Each piece is painted with intense individual attention. A large basket, brimming full of peaches, an epergne, a bird's nest (a feature in many of Roesen's paintings), and a glass half full of wine complete the composition. Just as Frederic Edwin Church strove for scientific accuracy in his cosmic landscapes, so did Roesen and other contemporary still-life painters in their microcosmic presentation of all that nature had to offer." (American Still-Life Painting, New York, 1971, pp. 61, 66) Still Life with Fruit is a superb example of Roesen's mastery in depicting nature's bounty with exacting detail and palatability, and confirm's the artist's position as a leading still-life painter of mid-nineteenth century America.
Roesen's still lifes of fruit and flowers appealed to his nineteenth century patrons due to their lush compositions yet logical content. According to Judith O'Toole, Roesen "was preoccupied with recreating the opulent splendor of nature which celebrated the pleasures of the physical world in an optimistic manner." (Severin Roesen, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, 1992, p. 32) He went to great lengths to include a tremendous variety of fruit and flowers in each work and in his best works "the fruit and flowers are combined in great proliferation, leaving no area unfilled. The fruit, flowers, birds' nest, and man-made decorative objects of ceramic and glass are sometimes piled up on a double-tiered table, the tiers almost always of grained grayish marble, which appears to have been his preference. While these often gigantic paintings of literally hundreds of objects have been interpreted as Victorian horror vacui, they are also the ultimate embodiment of mid-century optimism, representing the richness of the land, the profusion of God's bounty in the New world, his blessing upon the American Eden throughout his cornucopia of plenitude." (Painters of the Humble Truth, p. 87)
The present painting, Still Life with Fruit is a superb example of Roesen's talent in exhibiting an elaborate fruit arrangement and decorative objects spilling over a gray marble, double-tiered table. The artist incorporated many of the elements he continuously favored in his works: the basket of peaches, the compote of strawberries, a halved lemon with rind spiral, sliced watermelon, and the wine glass all resting on the table. They are expertly arranged in a classical pyramid composition, supported on all sides by purple and green grapes. The linearity of the composition is softened on top by a compote of peaches and one of strawberries, as well as large grape leaves with curly vines. These elements protrude above and around the image, softening the edges of the composition and adding to the overall lusciousness and implication of bounty.
Gerdts describes the present painting: "An example of Roesen's largest and most elaborate mode of painting [is] dated 1857. Here is a collection of every kind of fruit of every season. Each piece is painted with intense individual attention. A large basket, brimming full of peaches, an epergne, a bird's nest (a feature in many of Roesen's paintings), and a glass half full of wine complete the composition. Just as Frederic Edwin Church strove for scientific accuracy in his cosmic landscapes, so did Roesen and other contemporary still-life painters in their microcosmic presentation of all that nature had to offer." (American Still-Life Painting, New York, 1971, pp. 61, 66) Still Life with Fruit is a superb example of Roesen's mastery in depicting nature's bounty with exacting detail and palatability, and confirm's the artist's position as a leading still-life painter of mid-nineteenth century America.