Severin Roesen

Severin Roesen (born 1815, near Cologne, Germany; d. 1872, Williamsport, PA) was a prolific Still life artist born in Germany, probably near Cologne (Roesen or Rösen as a “Blumenmaler,” or "flower painter"). He came to New York in 1848, and later settled in Williamsport, Pennsylvania (home to a large number of German immigrants). Roesen is most famous for his abundant fruit and flower still lifes and is today recognized as one of the major American still-life painters of the mid-nineteenth century. [1]

The richness and opulent abundance of Dutch-inspired floral and fruit still-life compositions embodied the sense that America was a nation blessed by God, and deserving of its material affluence. Early in his career in New York Roesen was fortunate to find distribution of his work through the patronage of the American Art Union. [2]

Roesen’s work can be found in major public collections throughout the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Brooklyn Museum; the Corcoran National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; the White House, Washington, D.C.; the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York; the Shelburne Museum, Vermont; the Allentown Art Museum, Pennsylvania; the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts; and the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas. [3]