Still Life with Strawberries

This careful presentation of ripe strawberries, prickly skinned pineapple, and the shiny reflections of elaborate silver and glass speak to the owner's taste for luxury. The pineapple, an exotic fruit imported into New Orleans and shipped along the Mississippi River, was available only in limited quantities. Wealthy families proudly served it on special occasions. This painting would have adorned the walls of an upper-class dining room and affirmed social and economic status.

Still life was considered an appropriate subject for female artists, who generally were excluded from more lucrative painting subjects and formal training in the United States in the 19th century. Hannah Brown Skeele worked in St. Louis in the 1860s. She was considered an amateur artist, though her works won considerable acclaim.