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Still life on a musical theme with an instrument, sheet music, books, and other objects on a small wooden table.

The dark wooden table is set in front of dark grey drapery on the left. Two old stained sheets of music hang down off the edge of the table in the center. Three small books have fallen over from the left into the center, an unlit candle in a pewter holder pointing right sits askew on the edge of the smallest book. A clarinet rests diagonally on top of the books, its mouthpiece on the table, crisscrossing behind the candlestick. A small bronze bust sits in the back of the scene. Light falls from above onto the table objects.

Gallery Text

Like many late 19th-century painters, William Michael Harnett referenced the art of the past to explore and comment on his own historical moment. Painted with extraordinary skill and meticulous attention to detail, this “musical still life” idealizes learning and the intellect. The array of well-worn objects on the tabletop refers to the three principal arts: music (the sheets and clarinet); literature (the piles of books); and the fine arts (the bronze bust of the Apollo Belvedere presiding in the background).

Unlike the careful depictions of treasured objects that Harnett painted earlier in his career, this painting is imbued with moralizing messages. Symbols from the 17th-century Dutch vanitas tradition suggest the transience of earthly pursuits. A snuffed-out candle is propped up on the pile of books; to the right, a single rose petal has fallen from the ceramic vase lurking in the shadows. Most suggestive is the faint inscription on the spine of the white book, which alludes to The Divine Comedy, the famous Renaissance chronicle of the afterlife.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2014.408
People
William Michael Harnett, American (Clonakilty, Ireland 1848 - 1892 New York, NY)
Title
Still Life with Pewter Candlestick and Clarinet
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1886
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/351999

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
43.2 x 53.3 cm (17 x 21 in.)
framed: 83 x 72.7 cm (32 11/16 x 28 5/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • monogram: Signed and dated in black paint, lower right corner: [a W over and an M under the H] HARNETT.1886.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Robert Brodhead Honeyman (d. 1987), San Juan Capistrano, California, by 1968. [Coeur d'Alene Art Auction, Hayden, Idaho, July 28, 2007, lot 109] sold; to Daniel and Susan Pollack, gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2014.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Daniel A. and Susan F. Pollack, Classes of 1960 and 1964
Accession Year
2014
Object Number
2014.408
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Alfred V. Frankenstein, After the Hunt: William Harnett and Other American Still Life Painters 1870 - 1900, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA, 1969), pp. 177-78 as cat. 103.
  • "Harvard Art Museums Receive Important Gift of American Silver", Artfixdaily Artwire ([e-journal], March 22, 2022), https://www.artfixdaily.com/artwire/release/6573-harvard-art-museums-receive-important-gift-of-american-silver, accessed March 24, 2022

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2100 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/03/2016 - 03/20/2023

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu