Apple Stem
Date1878
Artist
Frederic James Shields
(English painter, illustrator, and designer, 1833–1911)
Artist
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(formerly attributed to) (British Pre-Raphaelite painter, 1828–1882)
MediumGraphite, watercolor and gouache on buff paper
Dimensions9 x 7 1/2 in. (22.9 x 19.1 cm)
frame: 22 3/4 × 18 3/4 in. (57.8 × 47.6 cm)
frame: 22 3/4 × 18 3/4 in. (57.8 × 47.6 cm)
Credit LineSamuel and Mary R. Bancroft Memorial, 1935
Object number1935-220
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextThis meticulous study of an apple blossom branch clearly shows the working method advocated by the art critic John Ruskin in his magnum opus, Modern Painters. Ruskin encouraged all British artists to “go to nature, rejecting nothing, selecting nothing, scorning nothing.” The close observation of nature and the careful recording of every detail was a hallmark of the new Pre-Raphaelite style. Shields made this study at the request of his friend Rossetti, who needed an accurate example to work from for the background of his painting A Vision of Fiammetta.
