One of the first African American artists to achieve widespread recognition in the 1800s, Edward Bannister began his career as a portrait painter. Influenced by the French Barbizon artists and his spiritual relationship with nature, he turned to landscape painting as an expression of faith. Likely painted near his home in Rhode Island, Apple Trees in a Meadow is a mature example of Bannister’s work. A profusion of blossoms covers the branches in celebration of spring and poetically affirms his belief in “the harmony of all created things.”