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.
"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
"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
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
$6,100
H 23.5 in W 20.5 in
"Mujer de Cajamarca, " Oil Painting on Jute signed by Ernesto Gutierrez
By Ernesto Gutierrez (b.1941)
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Mujer de Cajamarca" is an original oil painting on jute by Ernesto Gutierrez. The artist signed the piece in the lower right. It depicts a woman seated in front of an archway. 16"...
Jute, Oil
$1,387
H 12 in W 16 in D 1 in
Late 19th Century Cairn Terrier Puppies, Dog Portrait
By Katherine L Fitz
Located in Soquel, CA
Charming 19th-century painting of two Cairn Terrier puppies playing in sewing basket by Katherine L. Fitz (American, 19th Century). Written on verso, "Pa...
Cardboard, Oil
$5,000
H 21 in W 25 in D 3 in
Mid Century Sycamore Canyon, Carmel Valley Landscape with Trees
By Nell Walker Warner
Located in Soquel, CA
Substantial and period mid century oil painting of California sycamore trees donning full fall color by listed artist Nell Walker Warner (American,...
Canvas, Oil
$2,655
H 28 in W 22 in D 3 in
Mid-Century Modern Abstract Geometric Trapeze Artists by Hilda Arp
By Hilda Arp
Located in Soquel, CA
Fanciful mid-century modern abstract of trapeze artists by Brooklyn artist Hilda Dora Pape Arp (b. 1909). This 1962 highly abstracted depiction of trape...
Oil, Linen
$5,000
H 30 in W 26 in D 0.75 in
'The Artist's Garden', Munich Academy, Art Institute of Chicago, PAFA, Corcoran
By Julius Moessel
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
'The Artist's Garden' by Julius Moessel, 1943. Munich Academy, Art Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, Corcoran ----- Signed lower left 'Moessel' for Julius Moe...
Canvas, Oil
$2,850
H 24 in W 36 in D 1 in
"Drawbridge", Modernist Bay Area California Abstracted Landscape with Boats
By David Fleming
Located in Soquel, CA
"Drawbridge", an expressive contemporary abstracted landscape painting by David Fleming (American, 20th Century). The artist uses swirling, painterly brushstrokes in a palette of primary colors; the blue water and sky with yellow accents framed by red urban landmasses on each side, highlighted with touches of green detail work that blends from geometric cityscape into abstraction. Signed "Fleming" lower right. Unframed. Canvas size: 24"H x 36"W. Santa Cruz artist David Fleming graduated from San Jose State University with a B.S. in industrial design, and soon went to work for Ford in Detroit as a car stylist. After two years he returned to California to work for Lockheed as an off-road vehicle designer. Fleming spent a year in Stuttgart, Germany, working for Porsche, designing cars, and helicopters, and later returned to California to pursue full time painting. David Flemings paintings have been exhibited in many galleries and exhibitions, including: Los Robles Gallery in Palo Alto, the Union and the Luggage Store...
Canvas, Oil
$1,500
H 16 in W 12 in
TJ, Portrait of a Male Boxer with Two Black Eyes, Blue and Beige Background
By Peter Lupkin
Located in Chicago, IL
Exploring the tension between the individual and their social archetype, Lupkin chooses his subjects from his local gym where they study boxing. In this intimate portrait, TJ is painted with soft loose brush strokes which contrast with his two black eyes. The painting is framed with a simple black floater frame measuring 17h x 13w inches. Peter Lupkin TJ oil on canvas 16h x 12w in 40.64h x 30.48w cm PLU011 The artwork I create is a visual statement of my moral philosophy. The language I use to convey this philosophy in my pieces is one of traditional symbolism, this being indoctrinated into my personality through an apprenticeship into a traditional stained glass...
Canvas, Oil
"Nocturnal Lotus" SALE oil on canvas, 1981
By Lowell Nesbitt
Located in Southampton, NY
Lowell Nesbitt's paintings are in most major museum collections. He is the artist that NASA selected to commemorate the Apollo Moon missions over 50 years ago. In the 1950s he dabb...
Canvas, Oil
$16,550
H 27.5 in W 35 in
"Vrnik, Croatia" bright colorful plein air oil painting of island sea in Croatia
By Marc Dalessio
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
"Vrnik, Croatia" is a rich and colorful plein-air oil painting of the Vrnik island in Croatia. Dalessio captures the glowing shallow waters as it reaches the rocky shoreline, beneath...
Canvas, Oil
$3,200
H 36 in W 36 in D 1 in
Magnolia in the Moonlight Realism 36" x 36" Oil on Canvas Gallery Wrapped
Located in Houston, TX
Magnolias at Moonlight Susan Meeks oil on canvas 36" x 36" Look for Free Shipping at Checkout Susan is a native Houstonian. She is passionate about oil paintings, specializing in lar...
Canvas, Oil
$4,000
H 10 in W 8 in
Vanitas III - Still Life Painting of a Human Skull & Flowers, Oil on Aluminum
By Matthew Cook
Located in Chicago, IL
Inscription on back of drawing: Laughter is mad, and reckless mirth— What does she in this weary earth? Should Wealth, or Fame, Our life employ. Death comes, our labour to destroy; ...
Oil, Acrylic
$2,800
H 8 in W 16 in
Las Vacaciones de Jose, Surreal Landscape of Rocky Islands off a Sea Coast
By René Monzón Relova “Pozas”
Located in Chicago, IL
***This artwork is currently on exhibit at the Instituto Cervantes, Chicago until September 2025. If purchased this artwork will be available to ship after September 1, 2025. Contact the gallery with questions. This surrealistic seascape of a group of small rocky islands off the coast of a crystal blue sea is a place in the mind of the artist Pozas. As the titled suggests, this is a vacation for the mind when travel is not an option! The painting is framed in a simple wooden frame and measures 12h x 20w inches. "Pozas" René Monzón...
Canvas, Oil, Panel
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