Lot Essay
William Michael Harnett's Still Life with Tankard belongs to a series of elaborate table top still lifes that the artist completed during the mid 1880s. This period coincided with Harnett's stay in Munich, where he studied and exhibited still lifes with great frequency, and continued to develop his virtuoso painting technique for which he is so celebrated. The still lifes from this period such as Still Life with Tankard are masterworks of illusionism, and in them Harnett explored the tangibility and physicality of real objects--qualities that define much American painting of the mid-nineteenth century.
The composition of Still Life with Tankard is filled with prized objects that one might find in a library or music room--an oil lamp, leather-bound books, sheet music and a flute. R. Robinson has written, "It is particularly in his ambitious tabletop still lifes that Harnett demonstrated a commitment to the prevailing cultural ethos. Formally as well as thematically, these paintings celebrate culture and civilization; they represent an idealized world of intellect and the soul through the portrayal of great books, music, and works of art. Objets d'art were widely collected during this period, and Harnett himself prized his cherished assortment of carved wood and ivory, hand-wrought metals, antique goblets, books, weapons, instruments, and Turkey carpets--the glories of past cultures, all of which he used as models." (William M. Harnett, New York, 1992, p. 161)
Among Harnett's tabletop still lifes, those depicting musical themes such as Still Life with Tankard are particularly noteworthy. In these works Harnett combines objects to suggest that the elements of culture and civilization--such as music, literature and other arts--are preeminent in a life of quality and refinement. M. Simpson writes, "Harnett's paintings of music and musical instruments reveal a great deal about him. Along with the rest of his oeuvre they are, of course, testaments to his uncanny skill in replicating an impression of reality. A chronological review of the musical still lifes unveils the artist's progressively greater control over his technical means and the challenges to which he put them as he moved toward [more] compositional complexity . . . With their commingling of music, literature, travel, and religion, these works repeatedly demonstrate his cultural aspirations. Moreover, it is through his use of music to enrich the meanings of his work that Harnett most clearly demonstrated his wit and intellect, stretching the very limits of his art and shattering with many a touching melody the accustomed silence of painting." (William M. Harnett, New York, 1992, p. 30)
The composition of Still Life with Tankard is filled with prized objects that one might find in a library or music room--an oil lamp, leather-bound books, sheet music and a flute. R. Robinson has written, "It is particularly in his ambitious tabletop still lifes that Harnett demonstrated a commitment to the prevailing cultural ethos. Formally as well as thematically, these paintings celebrate culture and civilization; they represent an idealized world of intellect and the soul through the portrayal of great books, music, and works of art. Objets d'art were widely collected during this period, and Harnett himself prized his cherished assortment of carved wood and ivory, hand-wrought metals, antique goblets, books, weapons, instruments, and Turkey carpets--the glories of past cultures, all of which he used as models." (William M. Harnett, New York, 1992, p. 161)
Among Harnett's tabletop still lifes, those depicting musical themes such as Still Life with Tankard are particularly noteworthy. In these works Harnett combines objects to suggest that the elements of culture and civilization--such as music, literature and other arts--are preeminent in a life of quality and refinement. M. Simpson writes, "Harnett's paintings of music and musical instruments reveal a great deal about him. Along with the rest of his oeuvre they are, of course, testaments to his uncanny skill in replicating an impression of reality. A chronological review of the musical still lifes unveils the artist's progressively greater control over his technical means and the challenges to which he put them as he moved toward [more] compositional complexity . . . With their commingling of music, literature, travel, and religion, these works repeatedly demonstrate his cultural aspirations. Moreover, it is through his use of music to enrich the meanings of his work that Harnett most clearly demonstrated his wit and intellect, stretching the very limits of his art and shattering with many a touching melody the accustomed silence of painting." (William M. Harnett, New York, 1992, p. 30)