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Dimensions: 36 by 50 in.
(91.4 by 127 cm)
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Provenance: Valentine Sherman Doebler (acquired directly from the artist)
By descent to the present owner from the above
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Notes: Severin Roesen is widely regarded as one of the most celebrated mid-19th century American still life painters. His arrival in the United States from Germany coincided with the growing popularity of the genre but unlike those of his American predecessors, Roesen's still lifes were far more ambitious in scale and composition. Opulent tableaus of flowers and fruit, with their sumptuous compositions, reflected mid-century wealth and optimism and were known to 'make the room' in which they were displayed.
Roesen's still lifes celebrated the pleasures of the physical world and their subtle juxtapositions of colors and textures evoke the visceral while still embodying Victorian decorum. According to noted scholar William Gerdts, these compositions echoed the ideal taste of the period stating "there is an element of horror vacuui in these and other still lifes by Roesen, the crowding of elements in a limited space that also characterized Victorian interior decoration" (William H. Gerdts and Russell Burke, American Still-Life Painting, New York, 1971, p. 61) Given the grandiose montages, and the often impossible juxtapositions of flowers and fruits of different seasons and climates, it is believed that Roesen may have worked from memory, employing his own lexicon of flowers, fruits and vessels, rather than painting from life. This is almost certainly true for Still Life with Flowers and Fruit, one of Roesen's grandest compositions, dating from the 1860s, a time when Roesen was at his most prolific and presumably most sought after.
According to Judith O'Toole, "The provenance of the painting is important in naming the original owner as Valentine Sherman Doebler, proprietor of the United States hotel in Williamsport where Roesen was a tenant on and off during his stay in that city between 1860-1872. The Doebler family befriended the artist, purchased many of his paintings, and cared for him during occasional illnesses." Among those pictures acquired by the Doebler family was a pair of large still lifes featuring the rolling hills of Williamsport in the background. The first, Fruit Still Life with Wine Glass in a Landscape, was sold at Sotheby's in 1990, setting a record price at the time for Roesen's work at auction.
