Emilie Preyer

Born in Düsseldorf, Germany, Emilie Preyer studied painting with her father, the still life painter Johann Wilhelm Preyer. She had a successful career as a painter of primarily still lifes, of which the present work is a particularly luminous example. Preyer’s dexterity in realizing various textures, from cold, hard, sleek, stone to transparent, glistening grapes enhance the trompe l’oeil effect she sought to perfect. The fly at left and browning insect-eaten spots on the leaves suggest the fleeting nature of time associated with the genre and lend a sense of verisimilitude to the carefully composed scene.