What an unusual luncheon—oyster crackers, grapes, oranges, walnuts, and almonds, with wine and water!
Let's Have Lunch!
What an unusual luncheon—oyster crackers, grapes, oranges, walnuts, and almonds, with wine and water!
Artfully arranged in an open-air setting, this opulent buffet reveals the artist's delight in illusionism; the transparent tumbler overlaps the matte pitcher and the straw basket peeks through the wine bottle. Although fanciful, this elaborate, well-ordered meal alludes to mid-century American prosperity and optimism.
To see more early American paintings, visit our traveling exhibition Young America: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum online or at the Greenville County Museum of Art in Greenville, South Carolina.
Source: Gwen Everett. Young America: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999).
Pictured: John F. Francis, (1808–1886), Luncheon Still Life,about 1860, oil, 25 1/2 x 30 3/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase.