Still Life,

1866

American still life painting developed in Philadelphia, where the artistic portrayal of nature reflected civic interest in both science and art. The first major exhibition of American art, the Columbianum Exhibition, was held in Philadelphia in 1795 and featured still lifes by Raphaelle Peale, a member of the illustrious family of artist-scientists who exemplified these twin pursuits. Mid-nineteenth-century works by Severin Roesen and John F. Francis—whose processed goods of champagne, butter, and biscuits expand Peale’s careful observation of raw and seasonal products—insert evidence of the human presence in the natural world and suggest the emerging commodification of food-ways and domestication of nature as the century progressed. A later composition by William Michael Harnett abandons a concern with natural goods, focusing instead on man-made products.