Frederick Batcheller was well known in Providence, Rhode Island as a still life painter who focused on fruit pictures. These paintings are flawless in execution and demonstrate Batcheller's ability to depict the simplest of objects with elegance and sophistication.

Batcheller began his artistic career as a marble carver while working as an apprentice for the Tingley Brothers but turned completely to painting in oil by 1855 when he joined Providence artists James Morgan Lewin, John Arnold, Thomas Robinson, and Marcus Waterman in the "Group of 1855". George Whitaker dubbed him "the Romantic" for his melancholy moods and habit of locking himself in his studio to play haunting melodies on his violin.