Still Life with Ham. Artist: Philippe Rousseau (French, Paris 1816-1887 Acquigny). Dimensions: 28 3/4 x 36 1/4 in. (73 x 92.1 cm). Date: 1870s.
This composition combines Rousseau's admiration for eighteenth-century still life painting with an emphasis on contemporary, everyday details, such as the copy of the newspaper Le Figaro at left and the letter at center, addressed to the artist at his home in Acquigny in northern France. The succulent ham is garnished with a sprig of bay leaves. Still lifes such as this brought Rousseau great success in fashionable circles; the present picture may have been exhibited at the Salon of 1877 as Le Déjeuner (The Lunch).