A Dessert

Raphaelle Peale

Oil on wood

National Gallery of Art

This exquisite still life depicts a elegant arrangement of shriveled grapes, almonds, walnuts, a lemon, and a glass decanter filled with peachy liquid, all illuminated against a deeply shadowed background. Painted by Raphaelle Peale, America's first professional still-life painter and eldest son of renowned colonial artist Charles Willson Peale, this work showcases the neoclassical balance and meticulous detail that defined early American still life painting. Created during a time when still life was considered a lowly genre unworthy of serious artists, Peale's daring choice to specialize in these intimate compositions helped establish still life as a respected American art form, making this painting a pioneering masterpiece of American decorative art.