William Harnett belonged to an association known as the “Grewsome Old Curiosity Club,” whose members delighted in playing “odd pranks” on the art world. He achieved considerable commercial success during his lifetime for his detailed, realistic still lifes produced in a trompe l’oeil style. His paintings were praised for their deceptiveness, one
critic describing them as “the most remarkable illusions ever produced by the brush of an artist.”

A variation from the more polished still-life tradition with which Harnett is associated, this striking oil study allows us to better understand the artist’s techniques and compositional strategies–including the daubs of paint at upper right that show him experimenting with color. Each object in the painting appears slightly flattened and occupies its own distinct space. The pipe at the top of the composition recalls the subject of Harnett’s The Meerschaum Pipe, hanging nearby.