Raphaelle Peale

Raphaelle Peale
(1774-1825)
Bowl of Peaches, 1816, Oil on wood Canvas

Gift of Harriet Russell Stanley
1961.01

Raphaelle Peale (1774-1825)
Bowl of Peaches, 1816

"My old and inveterate enemy, the Gout, has commenced a most violent attack on me . . . and most unfortunately on the day that I was to Commence still life in the most beautifull productions of Fruit. . . . I meant to have devoted all my time, Principally, to Painting of fine Peaches instead of whole Water Melons, merely single Slices on which I could bestow a finish that would have made them valuable."—Raphaelle Peale to collector Charles Graff, September 6, 1816

The son of the famous colonial painter and scientist Charles Willson Peale, Raphaelle assisted his father in the establishment of a natural history museum, wrote papers describing new designs for stoves and fireplaces, patented a process for preserving ships' bottoms and pilings from marine worms, published a theory of the universe, and developed recipes for preserving specimens at the Peale Museum. As a boy he learned oil and miniature portraiture in his father's studio and later became the first American still life painter of note.

In his lifetime Peale's still lifes were critically acclaimed and were purchased by several influential collectors. However, because portraits were then by far the most desirable form of oil painting, his still lifes rarely sold for more than $25 each.

Bowl of Peaches exemplifies Peale's refined and beautifully painted compositions. The subject is simple: a large bowl of peaches ornamented by two sprigs of leaves, one placed diagonally atop the pile of fruit and another on the table directly in front of the bowl. Unl ike other painters, including his uncle James Peale, who favored copious arrays of fruit spilling out of bowls and onto the table, Raphaelle often limited his combinations to one or two types of fruit, placed within delicate pieces of imported porcelain or chinaware. These expensive porcelain baskets, fine glass and silverware, not to mention exquisite cakes and deserts, provide a glimpse into the life of Philadelphia's prosperous merchant class. Peale's fruit presentations also record the era's interest in horticultural developments. The fruits are often arranged in the manner of botanical illustrations, and his meticulously legends, such as the inscription on Bowl of Peaches, may even indicate the dates that the fruits came into season.

Many of Peale's still lifes featured fruits, and peaches were a favorite, especially around 1816. Despite his periodic bouts with illness, he exhibited six still lifes with peaches (probably including this one) that year at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.