1906
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Dominant colour
Lights of Other Days is a 1906 oil by John F. Peto, a American Impressionism work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
You see old, worn-out objects on a shelf above a doorframe. They're things like candleholders, oil lamps, and torn books. These objects look like they've been used a lot and are now being remembered rather than used. The artist put these objects together to remind us of the past. The way they're painted looks soft and real, but not too perfect. Check out the technique of glazing to learn more about how this was done.
Lights of Other Days , like many of John F. Peto’s still lifes, is replete with nostalgia. Strewn along a shallow shelf above a doorframe is an array of old, well-worn objects: candleholders with wax candles nearly used up, rusty oil lamps, and torn books. These discarded commonplace objects allude to older ways of life and fading memories. Peto specialized in trompe l’oeil (fools the eye) pictures; yet his soft-edged style is suggestive of the artist’s hand rather than the heightened illusionism employed by other trompe l’oeil painters such as William Harnett . Trained in Philadelphia, Peto…
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Light: Art, Technology, and Society in the Industrial Age, 1750–1900, Oct. 20, 2000–Feb. 11, 2001; Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art, Apr. 7–July 29, 2001.
Judith A. Barter, "True to the Senses and False in Its Essence: Still–Life and Trompe l'Oeil Painting in Victorian America," Museum Studies 31, 1 (Art Institute of Chicago, 2005) p. 43 (ill.).
Read the full account in the museum source.
John Frederick Peto (May 21, 1854 – November 23, 1907) was an American trompe-l'œil ("fool the eye") painter who was long forgotten until his paintings were rediscovered along with those of fellow trompe-l'œil artist William Harnett.
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