Rack Picture for William Malcolm Bunn

John F. Peto made this painting for William Malcolm Bunn, a Philadelphia newspaper editor whose photograph, correspondence, and newspaper banner all appear in the image. Most of Peto's patrons were self-made businessmen, and he would often include references to their work in "rack pictures" meant to hang in their offices. X-rays of this canvas show that Peto at one point included the words "V[er]y Truly Yours/Wm Bunn" beneath the painted photographic image of the editor.

Peto's paintings are like games that make detective work part of the fun of reading them. There are several references to a puzzling character named Garibaldi McFod, whose name appears on the profile caricature of the bearded man. This name also appears on an envelope addressed to McFod at the Sunday Transcript, Bunn's newspaper. (Bolger, "The Early Rack Paintings of John F. Peto: 'Beneath the Nose of the Whole World,'" in Lowenthal, ed., The Object as Subject: Studies in the Interpretation of Still Life, 1996)