Godel An American Vision

6 Severin Roesen (c. 1815–c. 1872) |  Floral Still Life At the time of the European revolutions of 1848, Severin Roesen left Germany for New York City, bringing with him the style of still-life painting developed in Düsseldorf. He found a ready audience for his exuberant arrangements of fruit and flowers in his adopted country, and he attracted a number of students and followers as well. It was probably the Panic of 1857 that uprooted Roesen again, for it was around this time that he began to tour a number of Pennsylva- nia towns in search of commissions, finally settling in the lumbering center of Williamsport around 1860. Characteristic of Roesen’s Williamsport period, Floral Still Life presents a large, densely arranged bouquet that bristles with roses, tulips, lilacs, lilies, primroses, and morning glories. Some flowers that have fallen out of the bulg- ing bouquet or were unable to fit inside it lie below the arrangement on a black marble tabletop, as does a bird’s nest with three blue eggs—one of Roesen’s signature motifs. Roesen carefully arranged this profusion of detail to dazzle the viewer by creating multiple layers of blooms, cleverly alternating light and dark elements, and by including linear activity along the edges of the bouquet. The flowers appear especially animated in this example of Roesen’s work, and they convey a convincing sense of volume and depth. When a descendant of early Pennsylvanian settlers, James Alexander III, probably acquired Floral Still Life in the 1860s or early 1870s, the United States was enjoying a period of unprecedented prosperity. With its abundance of cul- tivated specimens, Roesen’s painting would have symbolized the fruition of the desires that motivated his ancestors to immigrate to the American wilderness in 1736. The painting descended in the Alexander family until the present day. Oil on canvas, 30 × 25¼ inches Provenance: James Alexander III, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, until 1886; by descent to his son, James Por- terfield Alexander, St. Clair County, Illinois, until 1908; by descent to his daughter, Celia Halsey Alexander Johnson, Belleville, Illinois, until 1971; by descent to her daughter, Annabelle Alexander Johnson Couch, Shiloh, Il- linois, until 1995; by descent to her son, James Alexander Couch, Deer Park, Illinois, until 2009 Note: A letter from Roesen scholar Judith Hansen O’Toole accompanies this painting.