Lights of Other Days (1906)

This page presents "Lights of Other Days" (1906), created by John Frederick Peto. Context for 1906: The first decades of the twentieth century were a period of rapid experiment, with Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, and the first abstract painting appearing within a few years of each other. Posters, magazines, and illustrated books were major ways for the public to meet new art and design. It is listed in the Still Life collection. The image is in landscape orientation. Still Life, a short history: Dutch vanitas paintings used objects such as skulls, candles, and wilting flowers to remind viewers that time passes. Still life, the arrangement of flowers, fruit, tableware, and other objects, became a distinct genre in the Netherlands and Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

On onlly.art "Lights of Other Days" is sold as a digital download (Digital JPEG + PDF files, 300 DPI). The files are delivered by email after payment, so nothing is shipped: you print locally, choosing the paper, size, and frame yourself. A landscape format suits wide, low wall spaces such as the stretch above a bed, mantel, or sideboard. Still life works are appreciated for their intimacy and rich surface detail, which makes them especially suited to dining rooms, kitchens, studies, and other quieter parts of the home. Before printing, compare the proportions of the file with your frame so that nothing important is cropped. Matte and fine-art papers reduce glare in bright rooms, while glossy papers give stronger contrast and deeper blacks. Choosing a standard frame size and printing to fit it often saves the cost of custom framing. Screens and printers render colour differently, so a small test print is a sensible way to check tones before committing to a large size.

American, 1854–1907

If you like the visual language of John Frederick Peto, explore more works by the same artist in our collection.