Still Life with Melon and Peaches

c. 1866

Edouard Manet

Artist, French, 1832 - 1883

A white rose, grapes and other fruit, a squat gourd, a bottle, and a glass are arranged across a dark wood table partly covered by a white cloth in this horizontal still life painting. The table and its objects fill the width and most of the height of this composition, and are set against a sable-brown background. The rose, bowl, cluster of green grapes, and a peach sit on the shimmering, bright white cloth, which is draped over the left half of the table. The shallow, straw-yellow bowl holds a pile of canary-yellow pears and a few peaches nestled among green leaves. Another peach and a second piece of fruit sit in front of it, partly obscured by the grapes that lie near the front edge of the table. Continuing to the right, the pumpkin-shaped gourd, roughly the size of the bowl and its fruit, is painted with streaks and daubs of lemon yellow and light and forest green. It sits on a gleaming silver tray. A tapered, earth-brown bottle and a small glass with a long stem stand behind the gourd. On the front face of the table, near the lower right corner, a keyhole is outlined with gold, and the top of one table leg is also gold. The objects are loosely painted with some visible brushstrokes, especially in the fruit in the bowl and the gourd. The artist signed the lower right, "Manet."

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer

  • Dimensions

    overall: 68.3 x 91 cm (26 7/8 x 35 13/16 in.)
    framed: 96.8 x 119.4 x 8.9 cm (38 1/8 x 47 x 3 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1960.1.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Léopold Baugnée, Brussels; (Baugnée sale, Galerie Ghémar, Brussels, 22 March 1875, no. 44). Perouse, Paris. [2](Durand-Ruel, New York and Paris) by 1910; sold probably through (Eugene Glaenzer, New York and Paris) by 1913 to Eugene [1875-1959] and Agnes Ernst Meyer [1887-1970], Mount Kisco, New York, and Washington, D.C.;[1] gift 1960 to NGA.
[1] Deposited on Perouse's behalf with Durand-Ruel in 1910 but removed, according to Manet, Exh. Cat., Grand Palais, Paris and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1983, no. 82.
[2] Annotated copy of 1913 Durand-Ruel exhibition catalogue in NGA files. Regarding Glaenzer, see Agnes Ernst Meyer Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., Container 25, transcript in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1867

  • Tableaux de Edouard Manet, Avenue de l'Alma, Paris, 1867, no. 37, as Fruits.

1913

  • Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Edouard Manet 1832-1883, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, 1913, no. 17

1920

  • Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1920, unnumbered catalogue

1921

  • Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1921, no. 63

1923

  • Loan, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1923.

1966

  • Edouard Manet, 1832-1883, Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Art Institute of Chicago, 1966-1967, no. 99, repro.

1978

  • The Second Empire 1852-1870: Art in France under Napoleon III, Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Detroit Institute of Arts; Grand Palais, Paris, 1978-1979, no. VI-81, repro.

1983

  • Manet, Grand Palais, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1983, no. 82, repro.

1986

  • Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad; State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, 1986, no. 13, repro.

1989

  • Manet, Ordrupgaardsamlingen, Copenhagen, 1989, no. 16, repro.

1990

  • Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum, Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990, no. 23, repro.

1994

  • Origins of Impressionism, Galeries nationales d'Exposition du Grand Palais, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1994-1995, no. 104, fig. 188, repro.

1999

  • Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no cat.

  • Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 17, repro.

2000

  • Manet: The Still-Life Paintings, Musée d'Orsay, Paris; The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 2000-2001, pl. 20.

Bibliography

1867

  • Zola, Emile. "Une Nouvelle Manière en peinture: Eduard Manet," L'Artiste 8 série, no. 14 (1867):50-51

  • "L'exposition d'Edouard Manet -- par G. Randon." Le journal amusant 300 (29 june 1867):6-8, caricature.

1910

  • Duret, Théodore. Manet and the French Impressionists. Translated by J.E. Crawford Flitch. London and Philadelphia, 1910: 249, no. 247.

1912

  • Meier-Graefe, Julius. Edouard Manet. Munich, 1912:168, repro.

  • Hourticq, Edouard. Edouard Manet. Philadelphia and London, 1912:44, repro.

1913

  • Proust, A. "Erinnerungen an Edouard Manet," Kunst und Künstler XI (December 1913):140, repro.

1920

  • "French, English and American Paintings." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 15, no. 9 (September 1920): 206.

1923

  • Bulletin of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1923): 263.

1926

  • Moreau-Nélaton, Etienne. Manet raconté par lui-même. 2 vols. Paris, 1926: 89, 134.

1931

  • Tabarant, Adolphe. Manet: histoire catalographique. Paris, 1931:164-165

1932

  • Jamot, Paul, and Georges Wildenstein. Manet Paris, 1932: 1:34, 132, no. 181.

  • Colin, Paul. Manet. Paris, 1932: plate xxi.

1938

  • Rey, Robert. Manet, New York and Paris, 1938:156

1947

  • Tabarant, Adolphe. Manet et des oeuvres. Paris, 1947:130-131, 536

1955

  • Bataille, Georges. Manet. Translated by Austryn Wainhouse and James Emmons. Lausanne, 1955: 44, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 81.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 72, repro.

1970

  • Orienti, Sandra. The Complete Paintings of Manet. London, 1970: no. 111, repro.

  • Orienti, Sandra and Denis Rouart. Edouard Manet. Paris, 1970: no. 110, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 210, repro.

  • Rouart, Denis and Daniel Wildenstein. Edouard Manet: catalogue raisonné. 2 vols. Lausanne, Paris, 1975: I: no. 121, repro.

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: no. 663, repro.

1977

  • Hanson, Anne Coffin. Manet and the Modern Tradition. New Haven and London, 1977:70, rpeo. 29

1979

  • Doran, Michael. "L'art en France sous le Second Empire." The Burlington Magazine 121 (July 1979): 464, repro.

1980

  • Kelder, Diane. The Great Book of French Impressionism. New York, 1980:436, repro. 110.

  • Hyland, Douglas K.S. "Agnes Ernst Meyer, Patron of American Modernism," The American Art Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter 1980): 71, repro. 76.

1983

  • House, John. "Seeing Manet Whole," Art in America 71, no. 10 (November 1983):185, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 450, no. 651, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 244, repro.

1990

  • Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum. Exh. cat. Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990: no. 23, repro.

1991

  • Wilson-Bareau, Juliet, ed. Manet by Himself: Paintings, Pastels, Prints, and Drawings. London, 1991: 38, fig. 105.

  • Coman, Florence E. Joie de Vivre: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1991: no. 9, repro.

1992

  • Stevenson, Lesley. Manet. New York, 1992:70, repro.

1993

  • Tinterow, Gary. The New Nineteenth-Century European Paintings and Sculpture Galleries. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993:repro. 13

1994

  • Pissarro, Joachim. "The Impressionists before Impressionism," The Burlington Magazine CXL no. 394 (Deember 1994):54

1995

  • Cezanne Exh. cat., Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Tate Gallery, London; Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1995-1996: repro. 113 under no. 18.

1996

  • Manet, Edouard. Introduction by Arnauld Le Brusq. Lettres du siège de Paris précédées des Lettres du voyage à Rio de Janeiro. Paris, 1996: 39-40.

1997

  • Kelder, Diane. The Great Book of French Impressionism. New York, 1997: no. 84, repro.

2000

  • Jirat-Wasiutynski, Vojtech, and H. Travers Newton, Jr. Technique and Meaning in the Paintings of Paul Gauguin. Cambridge, 2000:27, repro.

  • Cahn, Isabelle. "Manet Les natures mortes." Le Petit Journal des grandes expositions. Ser. 2, no. 323 (11 October 2000-7January 2001): 7, repro.

2001

  • Przyblyski, Jeannene M. "The Makings of Modern Still Life." In Eiza E. Rathbone and George T.M. Shackelford, Impressionist Still Life. Exh. cat. The Phillips Collection, Washington, 2001:28, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: Manet

Wikidata ID

Q20188685

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