Violin and Bow

Jefferson D. Chalfant

1889 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

This work is a simplified repetition of a picture Chalfant had painted the previous year, "The Old Violin" (Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington), which itself depended on William Michael Harnett’s more complex painting of the same title (1886; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.). Here, Chalfant focused only on the fiddle, a popular nineteenth-century instrument, hanging with its bow against a background of silvery paneled wood. Chalfant’s precision and exactitude, as well as the extreme austerity of the composition and palette, give his trompe-l’oeil (“deceive the eye”) effects astonishing conviction and veracity.

Artist

Jefferson D. Chalfant

Date

1889

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

George A. Hearn Fund, 1966