For a Sunday Dinner

1893

John Frederick Peto American, 1854-1907

On View

American, Level 2, West Wing

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About the Artwork

With luminous color and startling contrast, John Frederick Peto portrayed the sensuous beauty of mundane objects. Suspended by one leg on a string looped over a nail, this plucked fowl seems to emanate a golden glow against the deep green door. The incomplete cruciform of the lifeless body anchors the composition; the taut line from claw to beak divides the canvas into two nearly equal sections, while the rigid leg jutting right draws attention to the emptiness on the left, broken only by the burnished metal keyhole plate and a few floating feathers. The recent death of Peto’s long-time colleague William Hartnett—who painted three versions of a similar subject in the previous decade—may have inspired this work. Whether tribute or not, by emphasizing painterly concerns over tromp l’oeil (fool the eye) illusion, Peto cloaked his straightforward subject in an aura of mystery, making it completely his own.

From Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 89 (2015)

Title For a Sunday Dinner

Artwork Date 1893

Artist John Frederick Peto

Life Dates 1854-1907

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 30 1/4 × 22 inches (76.8 × 55.9 cm) Framed: 36 × 28 3/4 × 2 1/2 inches (91.4 × 73 × 6.4 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department American Art before 1950

Credit Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 2010.45

Markings

Signed Signed and dated, lower left: John F. Peto | 93

Provenance

by 1907, James Bryant (Island Heights, New Jersey, USA).
Howard Keyser, Jr. (Red Bank, New Jersey, USA).
by 1953-1977, Howard Keyser (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA).
1977-1979, Hirschl & Adler Galleries (New York, New York, USA).
1979-1992, Midwest Private Collector.
1992-2010, Midwest Corporate Collection.
2010-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

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We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

John Frederick Peto, For a Sunday Dinner, 1893, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, 2010.45.