This delicate late 19th-century oil painting by English artist George Clare (1835-1890) depicts a bounty of fruit, together with a wicker basket, nestled into a mossy bank.
Clare's rich and luminous still lifes always remind one of a gentle walk in the English countryside. It's as if he's gathered this ripe selection, placed it in a basket, and sat down somewhere to rest awhile. Unlike some of his peers who were drawn to the abundant style of the Dutch Old Masters, his approach was distinctive for its lack of continental influence.
At the centre of the composition, the basket is overflowing with deep purple grapes, their clustered forms spilling forward into the foreground. While around it, there's a natural scatter of orchard fruit: pale green apples gathered at the left, translucent white grapes resting across the moss in front, and a group of richly coloured red plums to the right. Autumn leaves, curling and browned at the edges, lie interwoven among them.
Behind the fruit rises a dark, softly textured background of foliage and moss. This shadowed backdrop enhances the luminosity of the foreground.
Images such as this resonated strongly with Victorian audiences because they evoked the rhythms of the countryside. Such paintings reflected a nostalgic appreciation of rural life during a time of profound social and industrial change.
George Clare was one of the most accomplished British still life painters in this style. Born in Birmingham, he initially worked in the decorative arts as a japanner before establishing himself as a painter specialising in fruit and floral still lifes. He exhibited at several important institutions during his career, including the Royal Academy, the British Institution and the Royal Society of British Artists.
His sons, Oliver Clare and Vincent Clare, were both trained as artists and went on to produce highly successful fruit paintings of their own. The similarities between their works suggest that George likely instructed them directly within a family studio environment.
Signed in the lower right and held in a late 19th-century gilt frame with an elaborate scrolling design.
Learn more about George Clare in our directory.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 30½” x 24½” / 77cm x 62cm
Year of creation: c. 1880
Provenance: Private collection, UK.
Condition: Cleaned. Frame in excellent condition.
Artist’s auction maximum: £10,600 for ‘A Still Life of Violets, Apple Blossom, Geraniums, Bird's Nest’, Oil on canvas, Sotheby’s, The Garden & Selected Watercolours & Selected Oil Paintings, West Sussex, 1996.
Our reference: BRV2271
