Severin Roesen 1815-1872

Severin Roesen is widely regarded as one of the most celebrated mid-19th century American still life painters.  His arrival in the United States from Germany coincided with the growing popularity of the genre but unlike those of his American predecessors, Roesen's still lifes were far more ambitious in scale and composition.   

The artist's paintings of fruit and flowers celebrate the pleasures of the physical world and their subtle juxtaposition of colors and textures evoke a visceral response while still embodying Victorian decorum.  These compositions echoed the ideal taste of the period; Dr. William H. Gerdts notes, "there is an element of horror vacuui in these and other still lifes by Roesen, the crowding of elements in a limited space that also characterized Victorian interior decoration"   (American Still-Life Painting, New York, 1971, p. 61).  Given the grand compositions and often impossible juxtapositions of flowers and fruits of contrasting seasons and climates, it is believed that Roesen may have worked from memory, employing his own lexicon of flowers, fruits and vessels, rather than painting from life.  These opulent tableaux of nature’s bounty embody the wealth and optimism of this era in American history.