AFA 18th Anniversary

Rubens Peale (1784–1865), From Nature in the Garden, 1856. Signed on basket: RuP to CWP 1856; inscribed, verso: By Rubens Peale from Nature in the Garden 1856. Oil on canvas, mounted on panel, 18¾ x 24¾ inches. Gift of the McNeil Americana Collection (2010-70-3). 2018 Antiques & Fine Art 141 Described by his father, as his “right hand man” at his Philadelphia museum, Rubens later assumed ownership of his brother Rembrandt’s Baltimore museum before opening his own New-York Museum on Broadway in 1825. However, in 1839, in the wake of an economic panic and depression, Rubens relocated his family to Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania, where he farmed and pursued his love of botany. Only during the final decade of his life, instructed by his daughter, Mary Jane, did he turn to painting. This picture, which he gifted to his son, Charles Willson, his grandfather’s namesake, is an exuberant display of botanical specimens Rubens raised in his garden and greenhouse. Painting almost exclusively for his immediate and extended family, Rubens’ bold, individualized pictures are suffused with family memories and artistic prototypes. In this instance, he adapts the form of a bowl also seen in the work of Raphaelle and James.