Grapes, c. 1890/1895

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 22.9 x 30.5 cm (9 x 12 in.)

framed: 55.6 x 63.3 x 7.3 cm (21 7/8 x 24 15/16 x 2 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

Accession Number

1994.59.3

Artists / Makers

Joseph Decker (painter) American, 1853 - 1924

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

lower right: J.DECker.

Provenance

(Berry-Hill Galleries, New York); sold January 1986 to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1994 to NGA.

Associated Names

Berry-Hill Galleries
Mellon, Paul

Exhibition History

1985: Brooklyn's Bounty: Natural Splendor and Domestic Opulence, Museum of the Borough of Brooklyn, Brooklyn College, New York, 1985, no. 17.

2002: Deceptions and Illusions: Five Centuries of Trompe l'Oeil Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2002-2003, no. 6, color repro.

2008: Feast for the Eyes: American Masterworks from the National Gallery of Art, Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland, 2008, no cat.

Technical Summary

The light-weight, plain-weave fabric support was primed with a medium thick, warm beige ground prior to stretching. It has been lined and attached to a four-member, mortise-and-tenon stretcher that appears to be original. X-radiography shows another painting upside-down beneath the current composition, depicting an overturned, broken basket of spilled plums. Paint was applied wet-into-wet, with deep transparent tones on top to create shadows. An extensive system of wide cracks has been inpainted and in the wall above the grapes are some relatively large areas of inpainting. Some shadows are abraded. There are residues of an older, discolored varnish layer.

Bibliography

1996: Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 125, color repro. 126.