Luncheon+Still+Life

Date: ca. 1860
 * [[image:https://s3.amazonaws.com/saam.media/files/styles/x_large/s3/images/1972/1972.107_1a.jpg?itok=GFW1_8ke width="333" height="278" link="@https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/luncheon-still-life-8536"]] || Title: **Luncheon Still Life**

Artist: **John F. Francis** Born: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1808 Died: Jeffersonville, Pennsylvania 1886

Medium: oil on canvas Dimensions: 25 3/8 x 30 3/8 in. (64.6 x 77.2 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Museum purchase

Accession: 1972.107 || What an unusual luncheon—oyster crackers, grapes, oranges, walnuts, and almonds, with wine and water! Artfully arranged in an open-air setting, this opulent buffet reveals the artist's delight in illusionism; the transparent tumbler overlaps the matte pitcher and the straw basket peeks through the wine bottle. Although fanciful, this elaborate, well-ordered meal alludes to mid-century American prosperity and optimism.
 * Exhibition Label: **

Artist Biography SAAM Collections Page
 * Links: **