The American painter John Frederick Peto (1854-1907) developed a personal manner of painting trompe l'oeil still life.

John Frederick Peto was born on May 21, 1854, of an old Philadelphia family. His father, a gilder and picture framer, later sold fire-fighting equipment. Peto studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts, but William Harnett's work was the overwhelming influence on his career. Peto seems to have known him before Harnett went to Europe in 1880 and acknowledged him as his model. He would never have painted the way he did without Harnett, for Peto was a born follower, a born disciple, but with genuine talent of his own.

From 1875 to 1889 Peto worked as a painter in Philadelphia, but he evidently was not very successful, and few pictures from this period can be identified. His career as an artist was frustrating. Occasionally he exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy, but he was not very...