(Cologne, Germany, 1815 - 1816 - c. 1872, United States, North America)
c. 1848-1860
Oil on canvas
27 x 22 in. (68.6 x 55.9 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Gift of Stella B. Hall in memory of her husband, William Curtis Hall, Jr.
1991.135
Very little is known about Roesen, whose surviving body of work—some 400 paintings—consists entirely of bountiful scenes of flowers and fruit. Though one often thinks of the still life as a realistic interpretation of natural objects, Roesen actually constructed his paintings artificially, drawing upon a repetoire of familiar images he kept in his head. Many of the artist's paintings were often created in pairs, in which one work would depict flowers and the other, fruit. This painting was probably half of such a pair.