Still Life with Pewter Candlestick and Clarinet

Like many late 19th-century painters, William Michael Harnett referenced the art of the past to explore and comment on his own historical moment. Painted with extraordinary skill and meticulous attention to detail, this “musical still life” idealizes learning and the intellect. The array of well-worn objects on the tabletop refers to the three principal arts: music (the sheets and clarinet); literature (the piles of books); and the fine arts (the bronze bust of the Apollo Belvedere presiding in the background). Unlike the careful depictions of treasured objects that Harnett painted earlier in his career, this painting is imbued with moralizing messages. Symbols from the 17th-century Dutch vanitas tradition suggest the transience of earthly pursuits. A snuffed-out candle is propped up on the pile of books; to the right, a single rose petal has fallen from the ceramic vase lurking in the shadows. Most suggestive is the faint inscription on the spine of the white book, which alludes to The Divine Comedy, the famous Renaissance chronicle of the afterlife.