Hannah Brown Skeele (American, 1829–1901)
Fruit Piece
INV-1565
Hannah Brown Skeele (American, 1829–1901)1860
Fruit Piece
Hannah Brown Skeele (American, 1829–1901) →paintingamerican arts
Date
1860
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
50.8 × 60.6 cm (20 × 23 7/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Purchased with funds provided by Charles C. Haffner, III, Mrs. Harold T. Martin, Mrs. Herbert A Vance, and Jill Burnside Zeno; through prior acquisition of the George F. Harding Collection
This pristinely arranged still life by Hannah Brown Skeele features US-grown produce as well as imported specialties such as bananas, oranges, a pineapple, and sugar cubes. The composition was likely to appeal to middle- and upper-class consumers in the mid-19th century, who increasingly purchased still-life paintings to adorn their homes. Born in Maine and active in Missouri, Skeele exhibited Fruit Piece the year it was painted, then already in the collection of a Saint Louis businessman.
The tropical fruits and sweetener were products of empire. Enslaved and indentured laborers of color cultivated such crops in the West Indies and Central and South America. The goods were transported from those regions to New Orleans and then northward along the Mississippi River.