This painting shows a bowl of red raspberries resting on a surface. The bowl is pale blue with blue details on the rim, and it is surrounded by a pile of pale peaches and pears, red plums, and green and purple grapes. In the bottom left corner, there are some pale purple-and-white carrots and a small group of red berries. On the right is a tree with yellow pears and a small vase with red and white roses. On the left is a thin brown branch with a bird perched on it. The bird has a green back and a yellow chest, and it is leaning down towards the raspberries, its wings flared and its beak partially open. The surface these items rest on is dark gray and the background is a gradient of pale yellow on the left and light blue on the right.

Still Life: Fruit, Bird, and Dwarf Pear Tree

Charles V. Bond

This painting shows a bowl of red raspberries resting on a surface. The bowl is pale blue with blue details on the rim, and it is surrounded by a pile of pale peaches and pears, red plums, and green and purple grapes. In the bottom left corner, there are some pale purple-and-white carrots and a small group of red berries. On the right is a tree with yellow pears and a small vase with red and white roses. On the left is a thin brown branch with a bird perched on it. The bird has a green back and a yellow chest, and it is leaning down towards the raspberries, its wings flared and its beak partially open. The surface these items rest on is dark gray and the background is a gradient of pale yellow on the left and light blue on the right.

Colors in this work

Details

Date
1856
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 63.5 x 76.5 cm (25 x 30 1/8 in.)
Department
CAB
Holding institution
National Gallery of Art
Image provider
national-gallery-of-art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch

Art Genome Taxonomy

7 tags

Subject Matter

  • Still Life Both · 99%

    The catalog identifies the work as “Still Life: Fruit, Bird, and Dwarf Pear Tree,” and the image visibly presents an arranged display of fruit, flowers, a bowl, a bird, and a tree on a tabletop.

  • Flora Visual · 99%

    Leaves, branches, a pear tree, roses, grapes, and other plant forms are visibly prominent throughout the composition.

  • Animals Both · 99%

    A bird is explicitly identified in the catalog and is clearly visible perched on a branch at the upper left with its wings raised.

Visual Qualities

  • Asymmetrical Visual · 96%

    The objects are arranged asymmetrically: the bird and branch occupy the upper left, the bowl anchors the center, and the pear tree creates a vertical mass at the right.

  • Dense Composition Visual · 97%

    Fruit, foliage, branches, and vessels densely occupy the tabletop and much of the lower and right portions of the canvas.

Medium and Techniques

  • Oil Painting Metadata · 99%

    The canonical metadata specifies the medium as oil on canvas.

Time Periods

  • 19th Century Art Metadata · 99%

    The work is dated 1856 in the canonical museum metadata.

Source & rights

Charles V. Bond. Still Life: Fruit, Bird, and Dwarf Pear Tree. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.

High-resolution sources