William Michael Harnett Oil Painting Reproductions

Harnett, William Michael

Still Life Trompe-l’oeil paintings by William Hartnett

William Hartnett. 19th century Irish American artist, famous for his trompe d’oeil paintings of still life and ordinary objects around the home. He studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and later in New York City at the Copper Union. Although unusual for his time in terms of what would later become known as photo realism, earlier Dutch painters had painted subjects in a similar way, although the work of Hartnett takes everyday objects which would not normally be considered as worthy of being the subject of a painting. His work was very popular but not at the time considered to be in any way high art. Today, though, his works are held by almost every major museum in the United States.