Pepper-Pot: A Scene in the Philadelphia Market
John Lewis Krimmel, American (born Germany), 1786 - 1821
Geography:
Made in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America
Date:
1811Medium:
Oil on canvasDimensions:
19 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches (49.5 x 39.4 cm) Framed: 24 1/2 × 20 1/2 inches (62.2 × 52.1 cm)Curatorial Department:
American Art
2001-196-1Credit Line:
125th Anniversary Acquisition. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. Leisenring, Jr., 2001
Made in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America
Date:
1811Medium:
Oil on canvasDimensions:
19 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches (49.5 x 39.4 cm) Framed: 24 1/2 × 20 1/2 inches (62.2 × 52.1 cm)Curatorial Department:
American Art
* Gallery 201, American Art, second floor
Accession Number:2001-196-1Credit Line:
125th Anniversary Acquisition. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. Leisenring, Jr., 2001
Label:
John Lewis Krimmel immigrated to the United States only a year before composing this scene of the market stalls of Philadelphia. With its fascinating contrasts of race, social and economic class, age, and character, Pepper-Pot reveals the artist's delight in his new environment and captures Philadelphia's unique charms. This is the first oil painted by one of the earliest American genre painters and it is equally exceptional for its depiction of a freed person of color at work in the city. Placed at the center of this composition, the soup vendor, known through many early nineteenth-century accounts of Philadelphia, would bellow to passersby, "Pepper pot, smoking hot!"
John Lewis Krimmel immigrated to the United States only a year before composing this scene of the market stalls of Philadelphia. With its fascinating contrasts of race, social and economic class, age, and character, Pepper-Pot reveals the artist's delight in his new environment and captures Philadelphia's unique charms. This is the first oil painted by one of the earliest American genre painters and it is equally exceptional for its depiction of a freed person of color at work in the city. Placed at the center of this composition, the soup vendor, known through many early nineteenth-century accounts of Philadelphia, would bellow to passersby, "Pepper pot, smoking hot!"
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