Editing John F. Peto (section)

==Career==
Although Peto and the slightly older Harnett knew each other and painted similar subjects, their careers followed different paths. Peto was born in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], and studied at the [[Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]] at the same time as Harnett.<ref>Frankenstein, 1970, p. 94.</ref> Until he was in his mid-thirties, he submitted paintings regularly to the annual exhibitions at the Philadelphia Academy. In 1889, he moved to the resort town of [[Island Heights, New Jersey]], where he worked in obscurity for the rest of his life. He and his wife took in seasonal boarders, he found work playing [[cornet]] at the town's camp revival meetings, and he supplemented his income by selling his paintings to tourists.<ref>Frankenstein, 1970, p. 94.</ref> He never had a gallery exhibition in his lifetime.<ref>Schwartz, 1990, p. 85.</ref> Harnett, on the other hand, achieved success and had considerable influence on other artists painting in the ''[[trompe-l'œil]]'' genre, but even his paintings were given the snub by critics as mere novelty and trickery.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} Both artists were masters of ''trompe-l'œil'', a genre of [[still life]] that aims to deceive the viewer into mistaking painted objects for reality. When the catalogs of the two artists were posthumously analyzed, it was determined that "many of [Peto's] canvases received forged signatures of William Harnett."<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1965–1975|url=https://archive.org/stream/TheMetropolitanMuseumofArtNotableAcquisitions19651975/TheMetropolitanMuseumofArtNotableAcquisitions19651975_djvu.txt|access-date=2023-05-19|publisher=archive.org|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=John Frederick Peto: Breakfast, c. 1890s|url=https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.110275.html|access-date=2023-05-19|publisher=National Gallery of Art|language=en}}</ref>

[[Image:PetoLetterRack.jpeg|thumb|left|''Letter Rack'' by Peto, 1907]]
Peto's paintings, generally considered less technically skilled than Harnett's,<ref>Wilmerding, 1983, p. 32.</ref> are more abstract, use more unusual color, and often have a stronger emotional resonance. Peto's mature works have an opaque and powdery texture which is often compared to [[Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin|Chardin]].<ref>Schwartz, 1990, p. 87.</ref>

The subject matter of Peto's paintings consisted of the most ordinary of things: pistols, horseshoes, bits of paper, keys, books, and the like. He frequently painted old time "letter racks", which were a kind of board that used ribbons tacked into a square that held notes, letters, pencils, and photographs. Many of Peto's paintings reinterpret themes Harnett had painted earlier,<ref>Schwartz, 1990, p. 87.</ref> but Peto's compositions are less formal and his objects are typically rustier, more worn, less expensive looking.<ref>Frankenstein, 1970, p. 110.</ref>

[[File:ISLAND HEIGHTS HIST. DIST. OCEAN COUNTY.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Peto Studio Museum]]
A pioneering{{according to whom|date=May 2023}} study of Peto and Harnett is [[Alfred Frankenstein]]'s ''After the Hunt: William Harnett and Other American Still Life Painters, 1870-1900''.