Orange Branch
ca. 1883
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
54 5/8 x 11 5/8 in. (138.4 x 29.5 cm)
Classification
Painting
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of J. William Middendorf II, 1966
Accession Number
66.73
Tags
Art Historical Context
John La Farge’s *Orange Branch* (ca. 1883) captures a slender spray of citrus fruit against a muted ground, its elongated vertical format (roughly 55 by 12 inches) suggesting it may have been conceived as a decorative panel. An influential American artist active during the Aesthetic Movement, La Farge often drew on Japanese compositional principles and a sensitive handling of light and color to elevate humble subjects. Painted in oil on canvas, the work reflects the period’s growing appreciation for refined still-life imagery that celebrated natural beauty and quiet observation. The painting’...
About the Artist
John La Farge · 1835–1910
John La Farge (1835–1910) was born into a wealthy French émigré family in New York City, the son of John Frederick La Farge and Louisa Binsse de Saint-Victor. Educated at Jesuit institutions including Mount St. Mary's College in Maryland and St. John's College (now Fordham University), he initially pursued law but turned to art after receiving early drawing lessons from his maternal grandfather, a...