John Frederick Peto

Born in Philadelphia in 1854, John Frederick Peto was a largely self-taught painter who championed the trompe l’oeil (“deceive the eye” in French) genre in his still life paintings. Although a friend and colleague of William Harnett, Peto never received as much critical acclaim or attention and was largely forgotten by the art world. In fact, many of his paintings were attributed to Harnett until the 1950s. Trompe l’oeil (even those by Harnett) works were considered “low brow” amongst art world elites but have gained a renewed interest from art historians. Peto, who mostly sold work to lower-middle class professionals, and his wife lived a modest life in Island Heights, New Jersey, where his former home has been converted to a museum dedicated to the artist.