Apple Blossom Branch on a Table
Martin Johnson HEADE
(American, 1819-1904)
Apple Blossom Branch on a Table
Date1874
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionscanvas: 10 × 15 1/8 in. (25.4 × 38.4 cm)
frame: 19 1/4 x 24 1/2 x 3 1/4 in. (48.9 x 62.2 x 8.3 cm)
ClassificationPAINTINGS
Credit LineSBMA, Gift of Charles C. and Elma Ralphs Shoemaker
Object number1994.34.7
Subject(s)
- flowers
- still lifes
Collection
- 19th century American
- American
Sub-Collection(s)
- Luminism
- Still Life
- American
On View
On viewCollections
Label TextHeade is now recognized as one of the most significant artists of his generation. Though sometimes lumped together with the Hudson River School because of his friendship with Church and the exotic South American landscapes from the 1860s that he made, his art was more diverse, both in terms of subject and style. Heade began to treat still-life motifs in the 1870s, and this subject of a blossoming branch from an apple tree exists in numerous variations by his hand. Perhaps, most famous are his still-life compositions that combine hummingbirds and orchids. The poignancy of this sprig of flowers, now severed from its trunk lies, of course, in the traditional vanitas theme of the transience of life.
