Still Life January 23, 2010

During the nineteenth century, the prosperity of a young America led to an increasing appreciation of still-life painting among middle-class Americans. Although considered an inferior form of painting by art critics, artists often painted still-life work on the side, selling it for an affordable price to a middle-class audience seeking to decorate their homes, clubs, and offices. It is not surprising that throughout much of the mid-nineteenth century, images of fruit and flowers were the most popular, followed by those of hunting game. The abundance and affluence of a thriving nineteenth-century America, with its Western frontier and its increased industrialization, coexisted with a growing interest in examining science and nature.