$233,500
Robert Spear Dunning (American, 1829-1905) Cherries/A Still Life with Self Portrait Reflected in a Silver Compote Signed and dated "R. S. Dunning 1871" l.l. Oil on canvas, 14 1/4 x 18 in. (36 x 45.9 cm), in a period frame. Condition: Damage to tacking edge (stabilized by lining), minor scattered dots of retouch, craquelure. Provenance: Mrs. George Washington Dean, Fall River, Massachusetts, and by descent in her family. Exhibitions: EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS AND UNFINISHED WORKS, ROBERT SPEAR DUNNING, Fall River, Massachusetts, December 14, 1911, Number 6 - "Cherries - Loaned by Mrs. Geo. W. Dean." N.B. Artist and Dunning student Bryant Chapin, reviewed the 1911 Dunning exhibition. In discussing the work presented here, he wrote: "...composed of a gold-lined silver dish overturned with cherries in front, with part of a mirror showing as the background. An instance of his fidelity to fact is seen in the painting of the reflection of the studio wall in the small circle at the bottom of the dish and also the reflection of the dish in the mirror. The carved mirror frame is a complicated and difficult object to paint..." (Fall River Evening News, Thursday, December 14, 1911, page 9). The detail of the artist at work is shown (inverted) on the opposite page. The painting, one of two commissioned by Mrs. George Washington Dean from Dunning in the 1870s, is important as it exhibits all of the lushness and optimism that epitomizes the attitude of the prominent residents o Read more…
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2001-11-17
