De Scott Evans was a painter of portraits and still-lifes and was primarily known in his era for his vertical images on canvas of women in interiors. However, his trompe l'oeil still lifes of luscious fruit brought him more attention after he died. Interestingly, it appears that he did not take his still-life work seriously as few of the pieces have a formal signature nor a date, and many have pseudonyms.

Though he was born in 1847 in Wayne County, Indiana as David Scott Evans, he changed his name after a trip in the 1870s to France. Whether he suffered from an identity crisis, wished to paint under a pseudonym, or was trying to avoid creditors, Evans may have used signatures as varied as Scott David, Stanley S. David and simply Davi...