Still Life with Apples, Sherry, and Tea Cake

1822

Raphaelle Peale

Associated Names
Raphaelle Peale

Artist, American, 1774 - 1825

This painting is a still life featuring several objects arranged in a line. On the far left is a red apple with its stem toward us. Next to it is a transparent glass goblet with a hint of golden liquid inside. To the right of the glass is a blue plate with a large yellow apple next to what look like dark red dates or raisins. Resting beside the plate is a thin brown twig with green leaves. Farthest to the right is a small round yellow cake with white frosting, decorated with a pink dot in the center of the frosting and four green ovals around it. The surface these objects rest on is light gray, and they cast dark shadows, indicating light coming from the left. The wall behind the objects is mostly black, which transitions into a lighter gray color on the far-right side of the painting.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery M69


Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on wood

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 26.67 × 41.59 cm (10 1/2 × 16 3/8 in.)
    framed: 36.04 × 51.22 × 4.6 cm (14 3/16 × 20 3/16 × 1 13/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2014.18.35


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist; probably by inheritance to the artist’s daughter, Sophonisba Peale [1801-1878], Philadelphia.[1] Mrs. Arthur C. Corwin, Greenwich, Connecticut. (Newhouse Galleries, New York). Private collection;[2] purchased by January 1975 by (The Old Print Shop, New York); probably purchased 1975 at The Winter Show at the Armory by (Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York).[3] (Terry Delapp, Los Angeles); purchased 5 June 1978 by (James Maroney, Inc., Leicester, Vermont);[4] purchased 1 July 1978 by Paul Mellon [1907-1999], Upperville, Virginia; bequest 1999 to NGA, with life interest to his wife, Rachel Lambert Mellon [1910-2014].

[1] According to an invoice from James Maroney, the painting is inscribed “Soph Peale in pencil on the reverse and indistinctly dated J--- 1854, on the reverse.” James Maroney believes that the “Soph Peale” possibly refers to the artist’s sister, Sophonisba Angusciola Peale Sellers, but it is more probable that it refers to the artist’s daughter Sophonisba Peale. See copy in NGA curatorial file.

[2] Kenneth M. Newman at The Old Print Shop wrote to Edward H. Dwight on 10 February 1975 that The Old Print Shop “purchased the painting privately from an elderly couple who closed their home” who probably “purchased it twenty or thirty years ago” (Archives of American Art, Edward H. Dwight Papers, Box 17: Other Research, Correspondence, 1970s, see copy in NGA curatorial file).

[3] In a letter to Kenneth M. Newman on 7 February 1975, Edward H. Dwight indicated that The Old Print Shop sold the painting “at the recent antique show in New York” (Archives of American Art, Edward H. Dwight Papers, Box 25, see copy in NGA curatorial file). In a research document, Edward H. Dwight indicated that the painting formerly belonged to “Stuart Feld, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York City, after the Winter Antique Show at Armor, N.Y.C., 1975” (Archives of American Art, Edward H. Dwight Papers, Box 15: Peale Research, Subjects, Still Lifes (2 of 2), 1940s-1980s, see copy in NGA curatorial file).

[4] See email correspondence and stock card from James Maroney on 8 June 1978, copy in NGA curatorial file.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1822

  • 11th Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, May 1822, no. 374.

1824

  • 13th Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, May 1824, no. 184.

Bibliography

1988

  • Cikovsky, Jr., Nicolai Raphaelle Peale Still Lifes. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Washington, D.C., 1988: no. 5, repro. (not in the exhibition).

Inscriptions

lower right: Raphaelle Peale Jany. 1822

Wikidata ID

Q20184726

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