Still Life with Grapes and Flowers

On a marble ledge a wide bowl overflows with grapes and plums, a glass pitcher behind it holds a mix of colourful flowers, and in the foreground key limes and small green peppers — species not native to Europe — rest beside the fruit, quiet tokens of the colonial trade routes that stocked a London larder in the 1820s. Mélanie de Comoléra studied and worked in France before moving to London, where she made this exquisite little still life about 1827 and established a successful career, becoming official painter to the Duchess of Clarence — later Queen Adelaide — and to Queen Victoria. The canvas, unknown for nearly two centuries, resurfaced in an English private collection about 2005 and was sold from the Merrywood Estate in 2022 before entering the Art Institute of Chicago in 2023. The painting is held in the Art Institute of Chicago.