Levi Wells Prentice

Levi Wells Prentice (1851-1935) was an American painter of still lifes and landscapes. Self-taught, he was born and raised on a farm in Lewis County, New York. He is associated with the Hudson River School and with John Ruskin's truth-to-nature principles, though he cannot be regarded as a member of either. Before 1872 he travelled through the Adirondack Mountains, painting its views, and in 1875 he opened his first studio as a landscape painter in Syracuse.

Around 1883 he moved briefly to Brooklyn and turned to still life, especially fruit such as apples, strawberries and peaches, piled in pots or set in natural surroundings. He was a member of the Brooklyn Art Association, where he exhibited often. After settling in the Germantown district of Philadelphia, his work gained little recognition from historians until the 1970s. Art historian William H. Gerdts praised the illusionism of several of his pieces, and a 1993 retrospective at the Adirondack Museum celebrated it. His paintings are held by museums including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Yale University Art Gallery.