A Closet Door

The letter rack, which held notes, cards, and other mementos, was a highly personal still-life subject that effectively served as a complex “portrait” of a patron or even the artist himself. This example by John Peto seems to offer a glimpse into the reserved painter’s private world. Age, decay, and collapse are the common strains running through this odd collection of objects, perhaps reflecting Peto’s own exhaustion as he slowly succumbed to a painful kidney disease.