John Atkinson Grimshaw

Grimshaw resigned from his job as a railway clerk in 1861 at the age of twenty four to pursue a career in art. He was self-taught and determined, and under the patronage of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society he started to exhibit in 1862. Still Life with Pineapple, Apple and Plums, painted in 1863, exemplifies the precise and detailed works Grimshaw executed between 1861 and 1863. He particularly focused on studying nature, influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites and the writings of John Ruskin, who had declared in 1843 that artists should strive for a ‘bona fide imitation of nature… rejecting nothing, selecting nothing and scorning nothing...’. Some of these studies were still-life compositions found in the surrounding woods and for others, Grimshaw arranged stones, flowers, fruit, blossom and other objects. This painting demonstrates Grimshaw’s minute attention to detail – most remarkably seen in the surface, colour, texture and light of the fruit and moss covered rocks. As has been said; 'These are very carefully observed paintings in the manner of William Henry Hunt and gave Grimshaw experience in showing different textures and surfaces.' (Jane Sellars, Atkinson Grimshaw - Painter of Moonlight, 2011, p. 3) A similar example Still Life with Pineapple, Grapes, Nuts and Plums is dated 1862 (sold in these rooms, 13 December 2018, lot 51).