William Michael Harnett American, born Ireland, 1848–1892
About this artwork
One of only three works William Michael Harnett painted in the year before his death, Just Dessert offers the viewer a display of foodstuffs sumptuously arranged on a marble surface. The traditional tabletop composition is one that Harnett often employed in his still lifes. In Just Dessert, the exotic clashes with the quotidian—Maraschino liqueur, half a coconut, and Smyrna figs rest alongside a copper pitcher, pewter tankard, and ginger jar. Small crumbs of cork are visible on the grapes and fig seeds are smashed on the side of the wooden box, indicating that the dessert has been eaten, as well as highlighting Harnett’s skillful renderings in trompe l’oeil (fool-the-eye) painting.
Date
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Wolfgang Born, Still Life Painting in America (Oxford University Press, 1947), fig. 80.
Art Institute of Chicago, Masterpieces in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Hillison and Etten Co., 1952).
Alfred Frankenstein, After the Hunt, William Harnett and other American Still Life Painters, 1870–1900 (University of California Press, 1953), 67, 92, 173–74, cat. 124.
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 1961), 210 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 1968), 216, 386 (ill.).
John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (Abrams, 1970), 107 (ill.).
David Hanks, “American Paintings at The Art Institute of Chicago, Part II, The Nineteenth Century,” Magazine Antiques 104, 5 (Nov. 1973), 895–905 (ill.).
Doreen Bolger, Marc Simpson, and John Wilmerding, William M. Harnett (Abrams, 1992), 82, 166, 187, 189, 219, pl. 47.
Judith A. Barter, et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I (Art Institute of Chicago, 1998), 256–59, no. 125.
Judith Barter et al., Art and Appetite: American Painting, Culture, and Cuisine, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2013), 123–25, 223, cat. 24, fig. 19 (ill.).
Julie L’Enfant, “Other Realities: The Art of Paul S. Kramer” (Afton Press, 2013), (ill.).
Milwaukeee Art Institute, Nineteenth Century American Masters, Feb. 20–Mar. 28, 1948, no. 22, no cat.
New York, Downtown Gallery, Harnett Centennial Exhibition, Apr. 13–May 1, 1948, cat. 18.
Durand Art Institute, Lake Forest College, Ill., A Century of American Painting: Masterpieces Loaned by The Art Institute of Chicago, June 10–16, 1957, cat. 11.
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Still–Life Paintings of William M. Harnett, Mar. 16–June 14, 1992; Fort Worth, Amon Carter Museum, July 17– Oct. 18, 1992, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Nov. 14, 1992–Feb. 14, 1993, Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, Mar. 14–June 13, 1993.
Nagaoka, Japan, Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Shikago Bijutsukan Ten: Kindai Kaiga no 100–nen [Masterworks of Modern Art from the Art Institute of Chicago], Apr. 20–May 29, 1994, cat.; Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, June 10–July 24, 1994; Yokohama Museum of Art, Aug. 6–Sept. 25, 1994.
Private collection, Philadelphia; Downtown Gallery, New York City, by 1942; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.
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