Hummingbird and Apple Blossoms

Martin Johnson Heade

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A peripheral member of the Hudson River School, Heade was unique in giving equal attention to landscape and still life throughout his career. He was devoted to natural history and first painted apple blossoms around 1865, when he included them in his extensive series of works featuring hummingbirds in a variety of habitats. In this example, the hummingbird is perched on a lower branch and silhouetted against the sky, as recommended by the English critic John Ruskin. The blossoms appear freshly studied from nature and have a light and airy mien, especially against the thick shroud of storm clouds.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art