Charles Ethan Porter produced accomplished still life paintings of luscious fruits and flowers, but he was quite aware that such abundance is short-lived and all existence is precarious. One of the first African Americans to attend the National Academy of Design in New York, Porter studied in London and Paris before taking up his career in Hartford, Connecticut, where he often struggled for patronage. During the years when Porter was traveling abroad, the Aesthetic Movement was flourishing, and Porter accepted the movement’s idea that the creation of beauty was the primary goal of art. The sunflower, one of the Aesthetic Movement’s most popular decorative motifs, symbolized renewal and enlightenment, an appealing subject for a young artist establishing his career. The painting retains its original frame.