William Mason Brown was born in Troy, New York, where he studied for several years with local artists, including the leading portraitist there, Abel Buell Moore. In 1850, he moved to Newark, New Jersey, and began painting romantic landscapes in a meticulous style reminiscent of the Hudson River School. In 1858, Brown moved to Brooklyn, where he worked for the rest of his career, exhibiting annually at the National Academy of Design, New York, from 1859 to 1890, and at the Brooklyn Art Association from 1865 to 1886.
Brown was undoubtedly exposed to the teachings of John Ruskin, which so greatly affected American artists during the late 1850s and 1860s. The Ruskinian, or Pre-Raphaelite, influence is reflected in Brown’s crisply painted, meticulously detailed still lifes, including Strawberries Strewn on a Forest Floor. William H. Gerdts said of the artist:
[Brown’s] still lifes are the most meticulous and photographic of his generation and during his lifetime his technique was compared to that of the great French academician, Jean-Léon Gérôme. . . . Brown almost never allowed his paint handling to be apparent. He reveled in textural duplication: the “halo” of the fuzziness of a peach, the “map” of the rind of a cantaloupe. In painting humbler fruits — berries and cherries — each particular item in a group had its own color, its own highlight, its own quality of weight (Painters of the Humble Truth [1981], p. 102).
As a former landscape painter, Brown was a staunch practitioner of another Ruskinian tenet — the still life placed in a natural setting — of which Strawberries Strewn on a Forest Floor is a prime example. In contrast to the more formal and traditional tabletop still life (which Brown also painted), Ruskin preached that fruit and flowers ought to be rendered as they exist in nature, relieved by soil or grass and other vegetation, and much like the works of the famous English painter William Henry “Bird’s Nest” Hunt. However, Barbara Dayer Gallati has noted a curious contradiction of Ruskinian theory in a similar work by Brown, Raspberries (oil on canvas, 20 x 16 in.; The J. B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky; see Linda S. Ferber and William H. Gerdts, “The New Path: Ruskin and the American Pre-Raphaelites,” exhib. cat. [New York: The Brooklyn Museum, 1985], p. 148 pl. 20 illus. in color), which depicts a loose bundle of raspberries set within an intimate space on the forest floor:
There is detectable in Strawberries Strewn on a Forest Floor, however, a duality in approach to nature that is antithetical to Ruskinian doctrine. The individual berries, the sheltering bush, the wild flowers, and grassy patch of earth are uniformly executed in a fashion comparable to that of Ruskin’s closest followers. Yet the berries do not appear as they would in nature; the artist’s hand has intervened in order to create a pleasing composition. This feature, along with the stage-like setting and theatrical lighting, introduces an artificial note which suggests that however veristic it all may seem, this is a composition that originated in the studio and not in nature (Gallati, “Raspberries,” in ibid., p. 92).
This apparent contradiction in Ruskinian theory is also seen in Strawberries Strewn on a Forest Floor, which presents a loose group of rich red strawberries scattered about the forest floor. Although he concentrated on landscape painting in the early part of his career, Brown gained wider recognition for his still lifes, particularly of fruit, which were occasionally lithographed by Currier & Ives, or other printing houses, and were thus widely distributed. The characteristically strong color and tightly executed forms of his work lent themselves to the lithographic process.
Strawberries Strewn on a Forest Floor
By William Mason Brown
Located in New York, NY
William Mason Brown was born in Troy, New York, where he studied for several years with local artists, including the leading portraitist there, Abel Buel Moore. In 1850, he moved to ...
Canvas, Oil
"Sunset Autumn on the Lake" Cerca 1860'
By William Mason Brown
Located in Jacksonville, FL
Signature: Unsigned Medium/Ground: Oil / Canvas Size Inches: 22" x 34" The oil is one of his largest landscapes known. It was just exhibited in the Quest royal Gallery exhibit...
Oil
"Still Life with Peaches"
By William Mason Brown
Located in Jacksonville, FL
William Mason Brown’s Still Life with Peaches is a sumptuous celebration of nature’s bounty, rendered with exquisite precision and warmth. At the heart of the composition, a grouping...
Oil
$740
H 5.52 in W 3.15 in
VAN BIESBROECK Jules. Woman in a garden. Oil sketch on cardboard.
By Jules Pierre van Biesbroeck
Located in Paris, FR
Woman in a garden. Oil sketch on cardboard. Unsigned. This work will be recorded in the catalogue raisonné of the work of the artist currently in preparation. Jules Van Biesbroeck was the son of Jules Evariste van Biesbroeck, a painter of Ghent, but was born in Italy, in Portici, near Naples, while his parents were staying there. (In the 19th century many artists made educational trips to Italy). It was a long visit: the child was two years old by the time the family returned to Ghent.[1] After a short period of practice with his father, van Biesbroeck was enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent. His first painting, "The Shepherd" (French: Le pâtre), was sold at the Triennale in Ghent. In 1888, when he was only 15 years old, he made his debut at the "Salon des Champs-Elysées" in Paris with his monumental work "The Launch of the Argo" (French: Le lancement...
Oil
$25,181
H 19.69 in Dm 15.75 in
VAN BIESBROECK Jules. Snake charmer. Oil on panel. Signed.
By Jules Pierre van Biesbroeck
Located in Paris, FR
Algerian women in an interior. Oil on panel. Signed. This work will be recorded in the catalogue raisonné of the work of the artist currently in preparation. Jules Van Biesbroeck...
Oil
'Let's play for real money'
By RICHARDSON RAY
Located in Paris, FR
Ray Richardson is a contemporary British artist known for his cinematic paintings. The artist employs icons of working-class London, including bull terriers, soccer pitches, and grit...
Oil
$14,200
H 24 in W 36 in D 1.5 in
Florida Sky - 2023 American Realist sunset on beach, en plein air oil painting
By Carl Bretzke
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
An oil painting of a cloud filled sky at sunset. The foreground is set along a sandy beach, white sand meeting dunes, tire tracks in the sand lead our eye to a pair of figures, seate...
Canvas, Linen, Oil
$5,200
H 16 in W 20 in D 1.5 in
"Sun Breaking Through/Port Salerno" - 2023 American Realist seascape in Florida
By Carl Bretzke
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
An Oil painting of boats in a marina. Above, the suns rays pierce through the clouds. American realist painter Carl Bretzke is particularly adept at nocturne scenes which ooze in d...
Canvas, Linen, Oil
Balloons over Manhattan
By Shay Kun
Located in Jerusalem, IL
A beautiful painting by Israeli artist Shay Kun. Featuring a colorful display of hot air balloons floating above Manhattan.
Canvas, Oil
$854
H 5.52 in W 3.55 in
View of Ostend. Oil sketch on cardboard. Signed and titled.
By Jules Pierre van Biesbroeck
Located in Paris, FR
View of Ostend. Oil sketch on cardboard. Signed and titled on the back. This work will be recorded in the catalogue raisonné of the work of the artist currently in preparation. Jule...
Oil
$2,747
H 12.21 in W 10.24 in
FRANCOIS VAN SEVERDOCK. Portrait of Eugène de Zereso de Cejada. Oil on panel
By Francois Van Severdonck
Located in Paris, FR
Portrait of Eugène de Zereso de Cejada. Oil on mahogany panel. Eugène de Zereso de Cejada was a Belgian politician and Baron.
Oil
$740
H 5.52 in W 3.15 in
VAN BIESBROECK Jules. Portrait of a man. Oil sketch on cardboard.
By Jules Pierre van Biesbroeck
Located in Paris, FR
Portrait of a man. Oil sketch on cardboard. Unsigned. This work will be recorded in the catalogue raisonné of the work of the artist currently in preparation. Jules Van Biesbroeck was the son of Jules Evariste van Biesbroeck, a painter of Ghent, but was born in Italy, in Portici, near Naples, while his parents were staying there. (In the 19th century many artists made educational trips to Italy). It was a long visit: the child was two years old by the time the family returned to Ghent.[1] After a short period of practice with his father, van Biesbroeck was enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent. His first painting, "The Shepherd" (French: Le pâtre), was sold at the Triennale in Ghent. In 1888, when he was only 15 years old, he made his debut at the "Salon des Champs-Elysées" in Paris with his monumental work "The Launch of the Argo" (French: Le lancement...
Oil
$744
H 5.52 in W 3.55 in
View of Bou-Sada. Oil sketch on cardboard. Signed and titled.
By Jules Pierre van Biesbroeck
Located in Paris, FR
View of Bou°_Sada. Oil sketch on cardboard. Signed and titled on the back. This work will be recorded in the catalogue raisonné of the work of the artist currently in preparation. J...
Oil
$4,000
H 24 in W 18 in D 1 in
"Winter River" 2018 contemporary realist plein air oil painting, snowy landscape
By Rachel Personett
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
An oil painting of a winter scene. White snow covers trees and rocks alongside a river. Soft short brushstrokes create a sense of movement in the icy water. White snow is painted thickly to accentuate the heavy snowfall. Painting dimensions: 24 x 18 inches Framed dimensions: 30.5 x 24.5 x 1 inches Framed in a traditional-style frame (see pictures). Artist Bio Rachel Personett was born in Hawaii, but raised in Colorado. Being the daughter of a pilot she has always traveled extensively. She has studied part time at the Savannah College of Art and Design, The Angel Academy of Art, and finally settled on the Florence Academy of Art, graduating in 2015. In January 2016 she apprenticed the painter Odd Nerdrum...
Canvas, Oil
$968
H 13.39 in W 11.03 in
Portrait of the grand daughter of the artist. Oil on panel. Signed.
By Jules Pierre van Biesbroeck
Located in Paris, FR
Portrait study of the grand daughter of the artist. Oil on panel. Signed. Unframed. This work will be recorded in the catalogue raisonné of the...
Oil
Sold
H 12 in W 14 in D 3 in
Antique American Fruit Still Life Oil Painting by William Mason Brown
By William Mason Brown
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American fruit still life by William Mason Brown (1828 - 1898). Oil on canvas, circa 1860. Signed in monogram "WMB". Displayed in a giltwood frame. Image, 10"L x 8"H, ov...
Canvas, Oil