Still Life with Fruit and Wine
Artist
Thomas Badger
(American, 1792-1868)
CultureAmerican
Dateca. 1817
MediumOil on panel
DimensionsOverall, Frame: 22 x 26 3/4 in. (55.9 x 67.9 cm)
InscribedSigned lower left: ;
Painted by;
T. Badger
Credit LineBequest of Edward J. Brickhouse, by exchange, and Museum purchase
Object number93.49
On View
Chrysler Museum of Art, 186, B3
Label TextThomas Badger American, 1792—1868 Still Life with Fruit and Wine, ca. 1817 Oil on panel A cascading pile of fruit, seemingly just plucked from the vine and tree, alongside fine cut glass wine vessels serve as symbols of prosperity and abundance. Still life was a popular artistic genre in Early America, valued for its connections to the art of European old masters and its symbolic associations with the bounty of the new nation. Thomas Badger worked primarily as a portrait painter in Boston in the early eighteenth century and this painting is one of only three known still lifes the artist created. Bequest of Edward J. Brickhouse, by exchange, and Museum purchase 93.49 ProvenanceJames H. Ricau, Piermont, N.Y., by 1964; On loan from the James H. Ricau collection to The Brooklyn Museum, N.Y., 1969-1993; James H. Ricau (1916-1993) to his Estate, 1993; From the Ricau Estate to the Richard York Gallery, New York, 1993; Bequest of Edward J. Brickhouse, by Exchange, and Chrysler Museum Purchase, December 1993. Exhibition HistoryProbably American Academy of Fine Arts, New York, N.Y., 1817. (Exh. cat. no. 131, as "Fruit and Wine" by T. Badger) Probably American Academy of Fine Arts, New York, N.Y., 1819. (Exh. cat. no. 140, as "Fruit and Wine" by T. Badger) "150 Years of American Still-Life Painting," Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, N.Y., 1970. (Exh. cat. no. 5, attributed to Eliab Metcalf) "Painters of the Humble Truth: Masterpieces of American Still-Life 1801-1939," Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, Okla.; National Academy of Design, New York, N.Y., 1981. (See pages 66, 68, attributed to Eliab Metcalf). "Paintings from the Collection of James H. Ricau," Richard York Gallery, New York, N.Y., 1993-1994. (Exh. cat. no. 4) "Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., October 25, 1996 - February 16, 1997. "Reopening of the Joan P. Brock Galleries," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., Opening in March of 2008. "By Popular Demand: Your Selections, Your Gallery," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, May 10 - August 31, 2014. "Clear as Crystal: Colorless Glass from the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, December 19, 2020 - July 11, 2021.Published ReferencesWilliam H. Gerdts, "American Painting in the Collection of James H. Ricau," _Antiques_ 86, no. 4 (November 1964): 581, attributed to Eliab Metcalf. _The Brooklyn Museum Annual_ 10 (1968-1969): 175, attributed to Eliab Metcalf. William H. Gerdts and Russell Burke, _American Still-Life Painting_ (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1971), 46, fig. 3-9, 49, attributed to Eliab Metcalf. William H. Gerdts, _Painters of the Humble Truth: Masterpieces of American Still Life, 1801-1939_, exh. cat., Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, Okla., 1981, 66, 68, attributed to Eliab Metcalf. ISBN: 0826203558, 0826203582 "Principales acquisitions des musées en 1994," _Gazette des Beaux-Arts_ No. 1514 (March 1995): 47, fig. 192. Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 36-37, no. 13. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6
Worcester Porcelain Company
