Details

Object type

painting

Title

Pomegranates

Artist/Maker

Jean Desiré Gustave Courbet artist

Culture/School

French

Place Associated

France (place of manufacture)

Date

1871

Materials

oil on panel

Dimensions

framed: 530 mm x 615 mm x 105 mm; framed: 534 mm x 613 mm x 124 mm; rebate: 295 mm x 375 mm; unframed: 267 mm x 349 mm

Description

Five fruits, including a lemon, apple, and pomegranate, sit on a white cloth. The pomegranate is cut in half, and is in the front of the composition. The background is dark. The artist's signature is in red, at the front left.

Like Apple, Pear and Orange, and Fruit, also in the collection of Glasgow Museums, this small still life was painted during Courbet’s short period of imprisonment in Ste. Pélagie during the winter of 1871. Courbet was imprisoned because he was found guilty of assisting with the destruction of the Vendôme Column during the Commune.

In his letters to friends and relatives Courbet complains that the prison authorities will not allow him to work in the way he wants. In a letter written on October 25 he complains:

They just authorised me to paint in my cell without leaving it, without any kind of light or model. Their authorisation is useless for in that case I have no other motifs than God Almighty and the Holy Virgin.

Credit Line/Donor

Gifted by Sir William and Lady Burrell to the City of Glasgow, 1944

Collection

Burrell Collection: Pictures [Oils, Pastels and Watercolours]

ID Number

35.67

Location

Burrell Collection

Related People

Waring & Gillow auctioneers