Still Life with Pineapple

American School, possibly New York State

Still Life with Pineapple
Unsigned, ca. 1860
Oil on canvas
25 ¾” x 33 1/8”, 30 ½” x 38” (frame)
Full condition report available upon request.
Provenance: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Tillou, Litchfield, Connecticut, thence by descent.
Illustrated: Nineteenth-Century Folk Painting: Our Spirited National Heritage, Works of Art from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Tillou (The William Benton Museum of Art, 1973), pl. 138.
Exhibited: The William Benton Museum of Art, The University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, 1973; The New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, New York, 1973; Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1974.
This table top still-life prominently shows a compote of peaches, grapes, plums and cherries among a pineapple, watermelon, apples, and pear. The bold drapery panel pulled to the side in the left foreground, along with the artist’s creative use of shadow, provides the illusion of depth in an otherwise flat rendition. The artist has further succeeded in the juxtaposition of the fruit, creating smaller still-life vignettes within the larger scene.

Price: $22,000