John Frederick Peto

American, 1854 - 1907

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American artist (1854-1907)

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A red jockey’s cap, a riding crop, a horseshoe, a spur, and bits of posters and papers are tacked and pasted against a wooden forest-green door, which fills this vertical painting. At the midline about a third of the way down the composition, the crimson-red cap hangs from a loop on a nail so we look onto the button on the soft top and the rounded brim, below. It overlaps a long, tapered, stick-like riding crop, which angles from the upper right corner to the lower left of the composition. The crop has a shallow knob at its top, and it hangs from a leather strap around another nail driven into the door. Immediately above the red cap is a slightly misshapen horseshoe, the left side of the upside-down U flaring out a little. To the lower right of the cap, the leather straps and metal spur hang from another nail. The cap and crop hang over several pieces of overlapping paper affixed or tacked to the door. The front-most poster has black text printed against a white background. “OAKLEY” appears in all caps across the top like a headline. In smaller letters below it reads, “Race Track” and then “Six Great Races.” Horizontal lines beneath that suggest more text, but it is illegible. The bottom of the poster is ripped, creating an irregular edge. The poster overlaps and mostly obscures a picture of a dark horse against a parchment-brown background. Corners and bits of yellow paper or board, sky-blue fragments, and a peach-colored ticket with the numbers “762” and “112” are affixed around and under the poster. Just beneath and to our right of these overlapping papers, nails pin the four corners of a kelly-green sign that has otherwise been ripped away, the white torn edge showing against the green paper. The black letter “S” is printed in the upper right. The wood door that creates the background for these objects is worn, especially along the vertical edges of the boards. The wood is cracked and split in some areas, and a few bent, rusty nails are partially driven into the wood. Two scrolling hinges to our left are mottled with rust brown and black. Each hinge ends in a three-lobed clover shape. The bottom hinge is broken about two-thirds of the way across the arm, so the end hangs down from the nail in the clover. A keyhole near the right edge of the composition is surrounded by a gold-colored plate. An illegible scrap of a newspaper column is pasted to the door near the top right corner of the composition, and two pieces of paper seem to be tucked into the edge of the painting. A ticket with the numbers “471” printed in large red numerals and again in smaller black numbers, and the letter “H” is tucked into the right edge, near the four corners of the green poster. Finally, the corner of a folded and wrinkled piece of sapphire-blue paper, perhaps an envelope, is tucked in at the bottom center.
John Frederick Peto, For the Track, 1895, oil on canvas, Gift of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr., in honor of Earl A. Powell III, 1997.131.1

For the Track

John Frederick Peto · 1895 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1997.131.1

John Frederick Peto, Mug, Book, Biscuits, and Match, 1893, oil on wood, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2014.18.38

Mug, Book, Biscuits, and Match

John Frederick Peto · 1893 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  2014.18.38

John Frederick Peto, Still Life with Cake, Lemon, Strawberries, and Glass, 1890, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2014.18.37

Still Life with Cake, Lemon, Strawberries, and Glass

John Frederick Peto · 1890 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.18.37

A violin, bow, and a tattered page of sheet music hang from a dark, forest-green, wooden door in this vertical painting. The string holding the violin hangs from a nail just above the sheet music. The violin hangs at an angle so the neck points slightly to our right. The bow hangs almost vertically behind the violin’s body. White powder coats the violin under the strings, one of which is broken. The sheet of music is titled “VIOLIN” and the musical notation is legible. The edges of the paper are chipped and wrinkled. Several pins are pounded into the wooden door, and a few small holes and vertical cracks mar its surface. The tip of one of two scrolling, gold hinges to are left is broken. A keyhole to our right is surrounded a brass plate, and a gold key hangs nearby. A scrap of newspaper is pasted on the door just below the violin to our right, but the text is illegible. The green paint is worn away on the left and right edges of the composition. The initials “JFP” appear to be carved into the door just above the violin to our left. The artist’s name is painted in black near the lower left corner, “John. F. Peto.”
John Frederick Peto, The Old Violin, c. 1890, oil on canvas, Gift of the Avalon Foundation, 1974.19.1

The Old Violin

John Frederick Peto · c. 1890 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1974.19.1

John Frederick Peto, An English Breakfast, c. 1890s, oil on academy board, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1999.79.30

An English Breakfast

John Frederick Peto · c. 1890s · oil on academy board ·  Accession ID  1999.79.30

A dented copper kettle rests on a forest-green tablecloth in this horizontal still life painting. The kettle takes up the left two-thirds of the composition, and the finial of the lid and the tall spout nearly reach the top edge of the painting. The spout is angled to our right, and the far side of the kettle beyond the spout falls into shadow. The lid sits loosely on the opening. A thin, yellow matchstick with a dark blue head lays flat on the tablecloth just in front of the kettle and below its spout. A tornado-shaped area gouge is dug out of the elephant-gray wall behind the kettle.
John Frederick Peto, The Old Kettle, c. 1890s, oil on wood, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1999.79.31

The Old Kettle

John Frederick Peto · c. 1890s · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1999.79.31

John Frederick Peto, The Blue Envelope, c. 1890s, oil on wood, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1999.79.28

The Blue Envelope

John Frederick Peto · c. 1890s · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1999.79.28

John Frederick Peto, Breakfast, c. 1890s, oil on academy board, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1999.79.29

Breakfast

John Frederick Peto · c. 1890s · oil on academy board ·  Accession ID  1999.79.29

A wide-brimmed straw hat, teal-green umbrella, and rust-brown satchel hang from a nail at the center of this vertical, still-life painting. The nail is driven into a clover-green plank across the top of the picture, perhaps representing molding on the wall otherwise mottled with beige and ash brown. The short black handle of the floral-patterned bag is looped over the nail. The long umbrella has a wood, knob-like handle and is edged around the limp, collapsed edge with parchment white. It is not clear how the umbrella is affixed to the bag or nail, but the hat hangs from a string looped around one the umbrella ribs. The arrangement is lit sharply from the left so deep shadows are cast on the wall to the right. The wall or column ends near the left edge of the painting, and a black strip there could be a view into a shadowy room beyond.
John Frederick Peto, Straw Hat, Bag, and Umbrella, 1890/early 1900s, oil on fabric transferred from canvas board, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2014.18.39

Straw Hat, Bag, and Umbrella

John Frederick Peto · 1890/early 1900s · oil on fabric transferred from canvas board ·  Accession ID  2014.18.39

John Frederick Peto, Still Life with Oranges and Goblet of Wine, 1880-1890s, oil on artist's board, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1999.79.32

Still Life with Oranges and Goblet of Wine

John Frederick Peto · 1880-1890s · oil on artist's board ·  Accession ID  1999.79.32

Bibliography

1950

  • Frankenstein, Alfred. John F. Peto. Exh. cat. Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, New York, 1950.

1969

  • Frankenstein, Alfred. After the Hunt: William Harnett and Other American Still Life Painters, 1870-1900. rev. ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1969: 99-111.

1971

  • Gerdts, William H., and Russell Burke. American Still-Life Painting. New York, 1971: 143-144, 248-249.

1983

  • Wilmerding, John. Important Information Inside: The Art of John P. Peto and the Idea of Still-Life Painting in Nineteenth-Century American. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1983.

1998

  • Torchia, Robert Wilson, with Deborah Chotner and Ellen G. Miles. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 75-76.