1 / 1

download image
This image is in the public domain. You can copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. Learn more about our image policies.

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

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 77.2 × 58.1 cm (30 3/8 × 22 7/8 in.)

framed: 97.47 × 78.11 × 5.72 cm (38 3/8 × 30 3/4 × 2 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of the Avalon Foundation

Accession Number

1974.19.1

Artists / Makers

John Frederick Peto (artist) American, 1854 - 1907

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Custom Prints

Order reproductions from the Gallery Shop

Inscription

lower left: John F. PEto.; upper left in simulated carving: JFP

Provenance

Private collection, Palm Beach, Florida;[1] (Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York); purchased 1974 by NGA.

[1] According to a note from Hirschl & Adler, 15 January 1974, NGA curatorial file, the painting was owned by the unidentified private collector "from at least 1953 until 1973."

Associated Names

Hirschl & Adler Galleries
Private Collection (NGA Former Owner)

Exhibition History

1983: Important Information Inside: The Art of John F. Peto and the Idea of Still-Life Painting in Nineteenth-Century America, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth, Texas, 1983, no. 132.

2008: Feast for the Eyes: American Masterworks from the National Gallery of Art, Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland, 2008, no cat.

2008: The Deluded Eye. Five Centuries of Deception, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2008-2009, no. 90, repro.

Bibliography

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 207, repro.

1980: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: no. 37, color repro.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: color repro. 159, 176, 178.

1983: Wilmerding, John. Important Information Inside: The Art of John F. Peto and the Idea of Still-Life Painting in Nineteenth-Century America. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1983: 146-149, 238, pl. 132.

1988: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 128, no. 41, color repro.

1991: Gingold, Diane J., and Elizabeth A.C. Weil. The Corporate Patron. New York, 1991: 166-167, color repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 259, repro.

1996: Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 259, repro.

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: 76-80, color repro.