Eliza B. Duffey (American, 1838–1898) Still Life with Fruit and Eggs on Tabletop

Note

This rich and well-balanced still-life that Eliza Bisbee Duffey painted and likely exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts fits within the long-established tradition of still life-painting in Philadelphia. Following the footsteps of elders such as Raphaelle Peale or John F. Francis, Duffey presents a tabletop still-life filled with a large array of fruit and vegetables. Judging from their variety and unusual pairing (raspberries and pears don't grow at the same time), paired with the exotic presence of a pineapple in the background, the work aims at celebrating nature's bounty, and the healthy American soil, a popular theme at the time.

When she was not painting, Duffey was a gifted essayist, and is credited for being amongst the first feminists that America counted. A strong advocate for equality between men and women specifically, she published several books about women's education, sexual health, and called for a new repartition of gender roles. The present work will be accompanied by a first edition copy of Relations of the Sexes, an essay Duffey published in 1876, and in which she tackled the biological history of the female sex. In this strong-worded manual, Duffey also famously raised the now contemporary issue of female consent, and made waves by considering a forced marital sexual the equivalent of a rape.

Provenance

MME Fine Art, LLC, New York, New York.

Acquired directly from the above.

Private Collection.

Christie's, New York, sale of September 28, 2010, lot 116.

Acquired directly from the above sale.

Private Collection, Florida.