Compositions of foods, often piled on a piece of porcelain, tempt both eye and appetite. Here, a seeming tumble of fruits actually creates a formal pyramid, defined by the grape cluster at left and a peach tree twig at right. While still life was Raphaelle Peale’s preferred subject matter, such arrangements ranked dead last in the academic hierarchy of painting types. History painting was deemed the most important and worthwhile use of an artist’s talents and training. Next came portraiture, the bread-and-butter of many an artist’s career, followed by genre (scenes from daily life), landscape, and animal painting. However, by the middle of the 19th century, landscape rather than history painting dominated American art. Nowadays, Peale’s elegant still lifes stand among the most beloved of all Federal-era pictures.