# Melons and Morning Glories

**Raphaelle Peale** (born Annapolis, MD 1774-died Philadelphia, PA 1825)  
1813  
oil on canvas  
20 3/4 x 25 3/4 in. (52.6 x 65.4 cm.)

Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1967.39.2. [The museum's record](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=19311).

## About this work

Raphaelle Peale's father, Charles Willson Peale, urged his son to paint portraits instead of still lifes, which brought an artist less prestige and fewer commissions. But still lifes suited Raphaelle, who also worked as a taxidermist. He painted this melon as if it were a body opened up for examination, detailing its fluids and flesh so that the painting suggests life, fertility, and death, all at once.Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006

_Text from the Smithsonian American Art Museum._

Raphaelle Peale painted this in 1813, aged 39. It is now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Raphaelle Peale](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/raphaelle-peale)

born Annapolis, MD 1774-died Philadelphia, PA 1825

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- The artist was 39
- Real size: about 21 × 26 in (53 × 65 cm). The 18 × 24 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Subjects: Fruit, Watermelon, Morning-glory, Flowers
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1931.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1931/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/melons-and-morning-glories-si-saam-1967-39-2).