Tip: move over the painting to use the lens.
For Sunday's Dinner
William Michael Harnett · 1888
- Artist
- William Michael Harnett (American, born Ireland, 1848–1892)
- Date
- 1888
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Size
- 94.3 × 53.6 cm (37 1/8 × 21 1/8 in.)
- Made in
- United States
- Style
- Realism
- Where to see it
- Art Institute of Chicago
Wilson L. Mead Fund · CC0 Public Domain · Art Institute of Chicago · image via Wikimedia Commons · see it at the museum ↗
Notes from the museum
Still-life painter William Michael Harnett excelled at trompe l’oeil, painting that fools the eye, through realistic depiction. In For Sunday’s Dinner , a chicken hangs in front of a painted door with its throat cut and most of its feathers plucked; a few remaining downy spots stand out against the puckered, pimpled flesh. The metal door hinges, on the right side of the canvas, frame the chicken and echo its form. The painting’s title and the rough, blemished surface of the door suggest a country dinner, the homey meal evoking nostalgia for a simpler past.
Text: Art Institute of Chicago (open access). Our full story for this work is coming soon.
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About William Michael Harnett
William Michael Harnett was an American painter known for his trompe-l'œil still lifes of ordinary objects.
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