Exhibition Guide

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Still Life with Bowl of Peaches and Grapes

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    A Conversation About Still Life

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    The Peale Family of Artists

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    A conversation about still life

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James Peale studied his nephew Raphaelle Peale's masterful still life painting, recreating it with his own style. Still Life with Peaches and White Grapes in Porcelain Dish, c.1820-1822. Raphaelle Peale. Gift of Mrs. Francis White.

Art Object Info

James Peale, eight years younger than American master Charles Willson Peale, joined his brother as a frame-maker after Charles returned in 1769 from studies in London with Benjamin West. Within a few years, James was painting as well, creating still lifes inspired by Dutch art. Unlike Charles, James never traveled abroad, but he did have access to Dutch paintings in Philadelphia. His work was regularly shown in the annual exhibitions of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. By 1823, at least one still life by James was in a Baltimore collection and was featured in the Second Annual Exhibition of the Peale Museum in Baltimore. Although still life was considered a lowly form of art in the hierarchy of academic painting, such pictures continued to find patrons throughout the 19th century. Today, works such as Still Life with Bowl of Peaches and Grapes are counted among the finest American pictures created during the Federal period. 

Medium:
Oil on canvas
Size:
H: 19.9'
W: 26.6'
Date:
c.1824-1831
Gift of William Bose Marye, Baltimore BMA 1948.14

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Art Object Info

James Peale, eight years younger than American master Charles Willson Peale, joined his brother as a frame-maker after Charles returned in 1769 from studies in London with Benjamin West. Within a few years, James was painting as well, creating still lifes inspired by Dutch art. Unlike Charles, James never traveled abroad, but he did have access to Dutch paintings in Philadelphia. His work was regularly shown in the annual exhibitions of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. By 1823, at least one still life by James was in a Baltimore collection and was featured in the Second Annual Exhibition of the Peale Museum in Baltimore. Although still life was considered a lowly form of art in the hierarchy of academic painting, such pictures continued to find patrons throughout the 19th century. Today, works such as Still Life with Bowl of Peaches and Grapes are counted among the finest American pictures created during the Federal period. 

Medium:
Oil on canvas
Size:
W: 26.6'
H: 19.9'
Date:
c.1824-1831
Gift of William Bose Marye, Baltimore BMA 1948.14