An Abundance of Fruit

This painting by Severin Roesen, who immigrated to the United States from Cologne in 1848, features a profusion of berries, grapes, peaches, figs, and other fruits piled upon a marble slab. His composition is a celebratory display of nature’s bounty— portrayed in such minute detail as to feel artificial. Roesen worked in Pennsylvania, supported by German immigrants who operated local breweries there. While still lifes in the 19thcentury typically adorned domestic dining rooms, Roesen’s painting may have hung in a public tavern or restaurant. For such patrons, the artist probably painted pictures in exchange for beer. Roesen and his male patrons would not have been counted among the followers of the growing temperance movement in America at midcentury.