Apple Blossoms (1873): Art, History and Details

Apple Blossoms (1873) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Martin Johnson Heade (American, 1819–1904).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Martin Johnson Heade painted approximately 150 floral still life compositions during his long career. In this relatively stark example, a single branch of apple blossoms is propped on a tabletop and supported by an undecorated wall.

Object facts

• Title: Apple Blossoms
• Date: 1873
• Creator attribution: Martin Johnson Heade (American, 1819–1904)
• Culture: America
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Unframed: 35.8 x 30.7 cm (14 1/8 x 12 1/16 in.)
• Collection: American - Painting
• Department: American Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1915.687

A detail from the museum

The artist was very fond of flowers and took pleasure in gathering and arranging bouquets, especially for his breakfast table.

Collection credit

Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art. "Landscape and Light." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 60:1 (January, 1973). pp. 9-20.
• Strahan, Edward, ed. The Art Treasures of America: Being the Choicest Works of Art in the Public and Private Collections of North America. vol. 8. Philadelphia: Gebbie & Barrie, 1879.
• McIntyre, Robert G. Martin Johnson Heade, 1819-1904. New York: Pantheon Press, 1948.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.