Little in Way's early education and initial personal success prepare the viewer for the subtle, connoisseur qualities of this charming still life. Way was brought along in the florabunda tradition of American still life art by masters like John Frankenstein and Alfred Jacob Miller, artists with strong narrative and trompe l'oeil tendencies. Way himself gained greatest note for his "portraits" of grapes, ripe and hanging on the vine, glistening with moisture and emoting a high Victorian reality reeking of pathetic fallacy.

Here we find that Way has returned to the true roots of that Maryland still life art of which he was the most outstanding practitioner in the late nineteenth century. Like the Peales, in particular James and Raphaelle, Way has found neo-classical perfection in a restrained, minimal composition.

Biography courtesy of The Charleston Renaissance Gallery, www.antiquesandfineart.com/charleston