William J. McCloskey (American, 1859-1941) "Wrapped Oranges", 1897 oil on canvas signed and dated lower right, verso with a 1953 letter from "Bloomington National Bank" estate administrator detailing provenance. Framed. 10" x 17", framed 16-1/4" x 23-1/2" Provenance: William H. Buskirk (1819-1906), Nashville, Tennessee/Bloomington, Indiana - by repute, purchased for his tavern in Nashville, before 1906; by descent to his daughter Amanda (1855-1934) and her husband, Dr. John P. Tourner (1854-1930), Bloomington, Indiana, 1906 to 1934; by descent to his brother, Dr. Francis F. Tourner (1859-1944), Bloomington, Indiana, 1934 to 1944; Bloomington National Bank, Estate of Dr. F. F. Tourner, 1953, no. 49271; Collection of Professor Vergil A. Smith (1900-1970), Bloomington, Indiana; Raymond C. Kilmer (1901-1968), Castleton, New York, thence by descent to his niece. Notes: William McCloskey and his wife Alberta Binford were two prolific American artists in the late 19th century. They collaborated for fifteen years, often painting portraits in tandem, and creating similar still life compositions. McCloskey, a portrait artist by trade, studied under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts before moving West to Denver, Colorado in 1882, where he met Alberta, a gifted autodidactic with a predilection for flowers. By 1884 they were married and spent the next fourteen years living a nomadic existence, traveling extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe; the true scope of their versatility still eludes art historians as it is reported that Alberta painted numerous genres in twenty-seven states. Between 1884 and 1898 when the couple separated, the McCloskeys spent most of their time on the East and West coasts, with extended sojourns in Paris and London. In Los Angeles in 1884-1885, they received numerous commissions and were pivotal figures in the budding art community. From portraiture to flowers, their paintings innately evoked the verisimilitude of the sitter's comportment or subject with startling crispness and brilliancy of color that required no additional objects or setting. In France, the celebrated painter Leon Gerome, and mentor of Eakins, was so impressed that he issued a letter of recommendation lauding the "great sense of truth" and "sincere impression of nature" one gets from their oeuvre. The McCloskey's work did not receive the same acclaim in New York, where they resided from 1886-1892, though they produced the oeuvre for which they are most renowned - still-lifes of wrapped fruit were first exhibited in 1888. Los Angeles may have been the epicenter of the booming citrus industry where migrant workers found ample work in orchards, but it was the waxed produce, delicately wrapped in tissue that christened the shop windows of New York that captivated the couple. Oranges and other sub-tropical fruits were expensive, rare commodities given mostly as gifts or during the holidays; the pristine tissue doubling as a gift wrap carefully placed by packaging workers instructed in the intricacies of fruit folding to prevent bruising or soiling. Perhaps nostalgia for California, or fascination with turn-of-the-century commerce drew the McCloskeys to the subject. Whichever the impetus, it inspired them to paint variations of the same composition for almost three decades. Like the painting offered here, each one is a tromp l'oeil masterpiece that delights in tricking the eye through its nuanced play on the same recurring textures - bright, taut fruit (often ensconced in a crisp, crinkled wrapper), the polished hardwood surfaces on which they sit become reflective pools of fruit, and the crushed velvet indigo or sable backdrop. See More