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Lot Essay
Among the great achievements of American still-life painting are John Frederick Peto's masterful rack pictures and compositions that include objects on the studio wall. Executed around 1900, pictures such as The Old Closet Door--Rack and Horseshoe with Dutch Jar are rich and revealing expressions of American sentiment at the turn of century. While other trompe l'oeil painters of the same period sought to amuse and cajole viewers with clever, if not masterful, artistic technique, Peto on the other hand infused his paintings with deep personal meaning that continues to speak to us today.
John Wilmerding has written, "In contrast to Harnett's objectivity, Peto became increasingly subjective, if not autobiographical. As he did, his paintings gained in confidence and expressiveness; at their best they possess qualities altogether different for those of Harnett but nonetheless comparable in their beauty. What is important to recognize are the ways in which Peto modifies the traditional trompe l'oeil mode. While his paintings do not spell out a literal story, their elements often evoke narrative or anecdotal associations. While he works with effects of illusionistic render of forms in space, visual trickery is seldom an aim in itself. Most of all, while he is capable of totally convincing effects of deception, Peto prefers to exploit, rather than suppress, the mark of his brushwork. Finally, his vision of the genre is more than decorative; instead of a neutral; and self-effacing stance, he makes forms express deeply felt emotion." (Important Information Inside, Washington, DC, 1983, p. 217)
The Old Closet Door--Rack and Horseshoe with Dutch Jar is a rare example of a work that includes an image of Abraham Lincoln in the context of a rack picture along with volumetric objects on a ledge in the foreground. The rich, warm light in The Old Closet Door--Rack and Horseshoe with Dutch Jar heightens the emotive and expressive qualities of the painting. John Wilmerding has written, "Peto's obsession with Lincoln imagery found expression in some dozen canvases painted regularly through the 1890s and early 1900s. We have already taken note of his apparent psychological association of the fallen president with his own late father. Frankenstein first commented on the connection, citing family stories about Thomas Hope Peto picking up a blood-stained bowie knife on the Gettysburg battlefield. In several of the pictures an oval engraving of the familiar Lincoln face is juxtaposed with the knife sometimes hanging threateningly nearby. About half of the group which have come to light are varying arrangements of these and other flat objects nailed to sections of old wooden doors, with the balance employing the crossed tapes in a letter rack motif. Incised in most of these are such details as Lincoln's nickname 'Abe' or his birth and death dates of 1809 and 1865. . . Disturbing to certain viewers has been the patently unfinished likeness of Lincoln, though this is a familiar Peto procedure to remind his audience that the image is the result of an act of painting. It complements the trick of delineating the canvas back on its front." (Important Information Inside, Washington, DC, 1983, pp. 187-89)
John Wilmerding has written, "In contrast to Harnett's objectivity, Peto became increasingly subjective, if not autobiographical. As he did, his paintings gained in confidence and expressiveness; at their best they possess qualities altogether different for those of Harnett but nonetheless comparable in their beauty. What is important to recognize are the ways in which Peto modifies the traditional trompe l'oeil mode. While his paintings do not spell out a literal story, their elements often evoke narrative or anecdotal associations. While he works with effects of illusionistic render of forms in space, visual trickery is seldom an aim in itself. Most of all, while he is capable of totally convincing effects of deception, Peto prefers to exploit, rather than suppress, the mark of his brushwork. Finally, his vision of the genre is more than decorative; instead of a neutral; and self-effacing stance, he makes forms express deeply felt emotion." (Important Information Inside, Washington, DC, 1983, p. 217)
The Old Closet Door--Rack and Horseshoe with Dutch Jar is a rare example of a work that includes an image of Abraham Lincoln in the context of a rack picture along with volumetric objects on a ledge in the foreground. The rich, warm light in The Old Closet Door--Rack and Horseshoe with Dutch Jar heightens the emotive and expressive qualities of the painting. John Wilmerding has written, "Peto's obsession with Lincoln imagery found expression in some dozen canvases painted regularly through the 1890s and early 1900s. We have already taken note of his apparent psychological association of the fallen president with his own late father. Frankenstein first commented on the connection, citing family stories about Thomas Hope Peto picking up a blood-stained bowie knife on the Gettysburg battlefield. In several of the pictures an oval engraving of the familiar Lincoln face is juxtaposed with the knife sometimes hanging threateningly nearby. About half of the group which have come to light are varying arrangements of these and other flat objects nailed to sections of old wooden doors, with the balance employing the crossed tapes in a letter rack motif. Incised in most of these are such details as Lincoln's nickname 'Abe' or his birth and death dates of 1809 and 1865. . . Disturbing to certain viewers has been the patently unfinished likeness of Lincoln, though this is a familiar Peto procedure to remind his audience that the image is the result of an act of painting. It complements the trick of delineating the canvas back on its front." (Important Information Inside, Washington, DC, 1983, pp. 187-89)