The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Apple Blossoms

1873

Martin Johnson Heade

(American, 1819–1904)
America
oil on canvas
Unframed: 35.8 x 30.7 cm (14 1/8 x 12 1/16 in.)
Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection 1915.687
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The artist was very fond of flowers and took pleasure in gathering and arranging bouquets, especially for his breakfast table.

Description

Martin Johnson Heade painted approximately 150 floral still life compositions during his long career. In this relatively stark example, a single branch of apple blossoms is propped on a tabletop and supported by an undecorated wall.
  • Hinman B. Hurlbut, Cleveland, OH, by 1878; his bequest to CMA, 1915.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art. "Landscape and Light." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 60:1 (January, 1973). pp. 9-20. Reproduced: p. 15, fig. 7 www.jstor.org
    Strahan, Edward, ed. The Art Treasures of America: Being the Choicest Works of Art in the Public and Private Collections of North America. vol. 8. Philadelphia: Gebbie & Barrie, 1879. Mentioned: p. 74
    McIntyre, Robert G. Martin Johnson Heade, 1819-1904. New York: Pantheon Press, 1948. Mentioned: p. 34, p. 61
    Stebbins, Theodore E. The Life and Works of Martin Johnson Heade. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1975. Reproduced: cat. 214
    Stebbins, Theodore E., with the assistance of Janet L. Comey and Karen E. Quinn. The Life and Work of Martin Johnson Heade: A Critical Analysis and Catalogue Raisonné. Revised edition. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. Reproduced: p. 211, 311; fig. 442
    Chong, Alan. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. Reproduced: p. 103
  • Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
    Horticulture Motifs in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 9-April 24, 1955).
    Exhibition of the Month: Flowers in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 6-June 5, 1952).
  • {{cite web|title=Apple Blossoms|url=false|author=Martin Johnson Heade|year=1873|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1915.687