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Severin Roesen
The Abundance of Nature, ca 1855
A celebration of nature's bounty, this grand painting illustrates fourteen different types of flowers of fifteen varieties of fruit. Careful inspection also reveals ladybugs, a tiny bird's nest filled with eggs, and studio windows reflected in a wine glass. The artist cleverly formed his signature in vine tendrils at the lower right corner of the canvas.
Roesen, who immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1848, is considered the leading practitioner of still-llife paintings of mid-19th century America. This work is his largest known canvas. The seemingly objective representation of an abundant display is actually an idealized studio fabrication of fruit and flowers that ripen or bloom in different seasons.
For decades, The Abundance of Nature hung in the dining room at Estourteville in Albemarle County, Virginia. A fitting location for this masterful work, the estate was long renowned for its profuse flower gardens and fruit orchards. |