| Date: | not dated, probably circa 1905 |
| Medium: | oil on artist's board |
| Size: | 10 x 17 in (25 x 43 cm) |
| Inscription: | l/r "F.Schàfer" in Schafer's sketch hand, underlined |
| Verso: | none reported |
| Provenance: | Sold in 2002 via eBay to collection of Edan Milton Hughes (1935–2015), San Francisco, inventory #2085, to his estate on his passing 21 April 2015; sold 21 May 2016 for $475 by Clar's Auction Gallery, Oakland, California, as lot 4554 in "Fine Art & Antique Auction"; to private collection, Boulder Creek, California. |
| Reproductions: | Clar's Auction Gallery, 21 May 2016 sale catalog |
| Citations: | Personal communication, 2003. |
| Attribution: | The subject matter and style are not at all typical of Schafer, though the illumination, palette, and brushwork are similar to that of his landscapes, with a bright central focus and shadows from a consistent light source. |
| Description: | A collection of fruit on a table, consisting of a watermelon that has been torn open, a second small green melon partially hiding a basket of strawberries, four apples or pomegranates, a cluster of grapes, two cherries, two small plums, and a banana, all illuminated from the upper left corner. |
| Note: | (1) The presence of a banana in the picture suggests a date after 1900, because refrigeration needed to successfully import bananas into the United States was not available until then. (2) This painting is one of a series of at least three similar still lifes. One is dated 1905, suggesting that all may have been executed circa 1905. For comparison, see [Still Life in plein air] and [Still life with fruit]. The latter painting is of identical size as this one and when acquired in 2009 had the same original frame, and thus may have been intended as a pendant. |
| In index(es): | Title list, unusual subjects--still life, cityscapes |
![[photo]](../smalls/p/img0956.jpg)