Melons and Morning Glories
1813
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Paul Mellon
Accession Number
1967.39.2
Tags
About this artwork
Raphaelle Peale's father, Charles Willson Peale, urged his son to paint portraits instead of still lifes, which brought an artist less prestige and fewer commissions. But still lifes suited Raphaelle, who also worked as a taxidermist. He painted this melon as if it were a body opened up for examination, detailing its fluids and flesh so that the painting suggests life, fertility, and death, all at once.Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006
About the Artist
Raphaelle Peale · 1774–1825
Comment on works: portrait; still-life; marine; miniature