John F. Francis
American, 1808 - 1886
John Francis was born in 1808 and initiated the revitalization of still life painting. He was largely a self-taught artist, producing some of America's most important still lifes. His visually intimate representations were delicately colored and painterly. Francis began to exhibit in Philadelphia in the 1840s and 50s as a portraitist, employing 17th century Dutch mannerisms. He also helped with the Artist' Fund Society's first exhibition. However, in 1858 he turned his attention to still lifes. Francis' favorite subject in the 1860s was of luncheon feasts, showing a table spread with desserts, fruit and silver. "Champagne Lunch and Tropical Fruit" was exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts at this time. The last 20 years of his life, Francis was consumed by painting Jeffersonville, PA. He is highly regarded by 20th century art historians but received little credit during his lifetime. He died in 1886.
Biography courtesy of The Caldwell Gallery, www.antiquesandfineart.com/caldwell
Biography courtesy of The Caldwell Gallery, www.antiquesandfineart.com/caldwell
Born in Philadelphia, by 1832 John E Francis, who was largely self-taught, was supporting himself and his new bride as an itinerant portrait painter in eastern Pennsylvania. In 1845, he established residence in Philadelphia and began exhibiting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Philadelphia Art-Union which promoted American artists through large, annual exhibitions and by awarding paintings in lottery-like drawings to subscribers. During this period Francis turned to still-life painting, selling nine of the twelve works he exhibited at the Art-Union in 1851. In subsequent years, his still lifes were purchased for lottery distribution, firmly establishing him as a leader in this genre which was only then gaining public acceptance.
During much of the nineteenth century, the majority of artists, collectors, and critics subscribed to the academician's thematic hierarchy which regarded still life as distinctly inferior to history painting, portraiture, and landscape. As James Thomas Flexner noted, "only in Pennsylvania was there a continuous still-life tradition ... anchored in a single family" that of Charles Willson Peale. While Francis's familiarity with the Peale's work is debated, this unprecedented dynasty of still-life specialists, including the elder Peale's brother James, son Raphaelle, and five daughters and nieces, undoubtedly prepared the way for Joseph Biays Ord, Severin Roesen, and Francis. Raphaelle Peale's austere neo-classic arrangements and James Peale's marvelously romantic orchestrations may have found acceptance initially because the large Germanic population around Philadelphia was already accustomed to both a folk tradition of fruit- and- flower painting and the Dutch school of still-life painting. Roesen and Francis, on the other hand, appealed to the growing middle-class American desire to celebrate the rich bounty of their own land. The mid-Victorian still life of abundance, featuring opulent piles of ripe fruit and costly bric-a-brac soon became a necessary feature of every genteel dining room.
