Severin Roesen (American,b. in Germany 1816-d.ca.1872),Still Life with Fruit ca.1860,oil on canvas,measures 40 1/16x50⅛ in.(101.7x127.3 cm)
In the mid-nineteenth century still-life painting underwent revival in the northeastern United States.Working in a style based on Dutch models,which depicted a multitude of fruits and flowers,Severin Roesen cultivated a popular following with the German community in Pennsylvania.This composition,one of his most elaborate,portrays a grand arrangement of fruit,a bird's nest,and a finely painted glass of water,and conveys a sense of wealth and abundance-Brooklyn Museum
About the artist-Very little is known about the German-born artist Severin Roesen.He was born in the town of Boppard in Germany to Stephan,a surveyor and Margaretha Roesen.That he was artistically inclined is not in any doubt and it is also clear that he received formal training in art,probably in ceramics,porcelain making,and enamel painting.
Records show that Roesen married Sophia Jacobina Lambricht in March 1847. He held an exhibition of floral painting at the art society in Cologne the same year.
Germany at the time was going through political troubles,and a number of Germans were moving away to America.Roesen and his wife were part of this movement towards the United States.They left Germany at the end of 1847,and stopped briefly in England before making their way to the US,where they arrived in early 1848.
The couple settled in New York upon their arrival and Roesen began exhibiting his work immediately,starting at the American Art Union the same year.Unfortunately,his wife died that year.He remarried the following year to another German émigré,Wilhelmine Ludwig.The couple had two children,Minnie and Oscar,in the next few years.
Roesen abandoned his family in 1857,and moved away to Pennsylvania where he first lived in Philadelphia.He then sought out other German émigrés like himself in the German settlements in Huntingdon and Williamsport, where he arrived in 1863.
Roesen found success within the German community in America.They were a prosperous and hardworking people making a new life for themselves in a new country,and they were eager to purchase his works for their homes and also for hotels and social centers.In fact,a large number of his works have been found in homes in Williamsport.
Roesen's style never really changed.His technique was excellent,and his compositions were generally variations of the same,with some paintings being near copies of each other's.One of the few things we do know about him was that he was fond of beer,as he often placed a glass of beer in the corner of his compositions (A large number of these glasses were then painted over.)
Roesen disappeared from Williamsport in 1872,and there are no records of his life at all after this date.He painted more than 300 still lifes during his time in America.Though he had largely been forgotten after his disappearance,his work to the attention of the art world in 1961,when the White House purchased one of his paintings sparkling a renewed interest in his life and work.
-BLOUINARTINFO
Severin Roesen (American,b. in Germany 1816-d.ca.1872),Still Life with Fruit ca.1860,oil on canvas,measures 40 1/16x50⅛ in.(101.7x127.3 cm)
In the mid-nineteenth century still-life painting underwent revival in the northeastern United States.Working in a style based on Dutch models,which depicted a multitude of fruits and flowers,Severin Roesen cultivated a popular following with the German community in Pennsylvania.This composition,one of his most elaborate,portrays a grand arrangement of fruit,a bird's nest,and a finely painted glass of water,and conveys a sense of wealth and abundance-Brooklyn Museum
About the artist-Very little is known about the German-born artist Severin Roesen.He was born in the town of Boppard in Germany to Stephan,a surveyor and Margaretha Roesen.That he was artistically inclined is not in any doubt and it is also clear that he received formal training in art,probably in ceramics,porcelain making,and enamel painting.
Records show that Roesen married Sophia Jacobina Lambricht in March 1847. He held an exhibition of floral painting at the art society in Cologne the same year.
Germany at the time was going through political troubles,and a number of Germans were moving away to America.Roesen and his wife were part of this movement towards the United States.They left Germany at the end of 1847,and stopped briefly in England before making their way to the US,where they arrived in early 1848.
The couple settled in New York upon their arrival and Roesen began exhibiting his work immediately,starting at the American Art Union the same year.Unfortunately,his wife died that year.He remarried the following year to another German émigré,Wilhelmine Ludwig.The couple had two children,Minnie and Oscar,in the next few years.
Roesen abandoned his family in 1857,and moved away to Pennsylvania where he first lived in Philadelphia.He then sought out other German émigrés like himself in the German settlements in Huntingdon and Williamsport, where he arrived in 1863.
Roesen found success within the German community in America.They were a prosperous and hardworking people making a new life for themselves in a new country,and they were eager to purchase his works for their homes and also for hotels and social centers.In fact,a large number of his works have been found in homes in Williamsport.
Roesen's style never really changed.His technique was excellent,and his compositions were generally variations of the same,with some paintings being near copies of each other's.One of the few things we do know about him was that he was fond of beer,as he often placed a glass of beer in the corner of his compositions (A large number of these glasses were then painted over.)
Roesen disappeared from Williamsport in 1872,and there are no records of his life at all after this date.He painted more than 300 still lifes during his time in America.Though he had largely been forgotten after his disappearance,his work to the attention of the art world in 1961,when the White House purchased one of his paintings sparkling a renewed interest in his life and work.
-BLOUINARTINFO