PETO, John Frederick

(b. 1854 Philadelphia, d. 1907 New York City)

American painter. He trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1877-78), Philadelphia, where he became a friend of William Michael Harnett whose work was a dominant influence on his oeuvre. Peto maintained a studio in Philadelphia, exhibiting at the Academy from 1879 to 1887; he earned a living through occasional work as a photographer, sculptor and painter. After moving to Island Heights, NJ, in 1889, he stopped exhibiting at the Academy and sank into obscurity.

While Peto’s oeuvre reveals him starting out from the genre of trompe-l’oeil in the manner of Harnett, it shows him arriving, in his latter years at a style closer to the maxims of the avant-garde. Many of his paintings which are close to the style of Harnett were for a long time attributed to the latter.

Books, Mug, Pipe, and Violin

This painting from the late period of Peto shows the influence of William Harnett, whom Peto met in 1875.

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The Poor Man's Store

This painting depicts a shabby but colourful storefront window with brightly coloured candies, peanuts, gingerbread, and fruit for sale. It is surrounded by a wooden frame illusionistically painted to simulate a door, shelf, and wall.

This canvas belongs to the school of trompe l’oeil paintings associated with William Michael Harnett with whom Peto became friendly while living in Philadelphia and borrowed many of his subjects and compositional devices.

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Tom's River

This painting is a skilful game of deception, starting with the wooden frame with the nails which cast fake shadows, the string hanging down on one side, the texture of the old wood painted in different colours, the torn papers and the letters which are apparently scratched into the wood.

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