catalog text
G.J. BROOME
British, active 1867-1873
Still-Life with Bird's Nest, Grapes and Strawberries
Oil on canvas | contemporary giltwood frame | signed lower left "G.J. Broome 1869"
Item # 404VXQ21P
A lovely Victorian era painting by the relatively unknown British still-life painter G.J. Broome, it features a high-chroma palette with brilliant reds and a full spectrum of greens that positively pop off of the canvas. Capturing a complex and chaotic bird's nest with three small eggs tucked away within the shadows, the setting is organized almost paradoxically as an "as-found" cluster of grapes beside three untouched and perfectly ripened strawberries on the mossy floors of the woods where light has penetrated the canopy to glow on the elements presented here with an almost ecclesastical light. The painting is executed on canvas and is signed in the lower left corner "G.J. Broome 1869" and is presented in a 20th century giltwood frame.
G.J. BROOME
Little is known about the life of G.J. Broome, but he is well-recorded as living in London where he exhibited at both the Royal Academy and at Suffolk Street Gallery between the years of 1867 and 1873 showing still-life paintings of fruit.
Artist Listings & Bibliography:
- A Dictionary of Artists Who Have Exhibited Works in the Principal London Exhibitions From 1760 to 1893, Graves, 1973, p. 37
Measurements: 15 1/2" H x 17 1/2" W x 2 1/4" D [frame]; 10 1/8" H x 12 1/8" W [canvas]
Condition Report:
Professionally cleaned and varnished by our conservator, at which point losses were filled and inpainted along the extreme edges (top and bottom) where the frame rubs, loss to lower right quadrant inpainted; under UV the fresh varnish flares and largely obscures examination of the surface; light craquelure throughout; original stretchers; impressions around the edges where the frame used to rub/press. Vibrant and bright, a fine presentation ready to place.