John Frederick Peto, like his contemporary William Harnett (whose After the Hunt hangs to the left), is acclaimed for his trompe l'oeil still lifes, paintings so painstakingly rendered that they strike the viewer as reality itself. Peto favored tattered objects, such as the dented tankard, worn leather book, and well-used pipe in The Full Shelf. These dilapidated items, the somber palette, and the deep shadows give this work a melancholy quality, emphasized by his inclusion of the snuffed-out candle and matches, symbols of the transience of life. The precarious placement of the candle on the matchbook and the discarded but still glowing pipe add to this feeling of ephemerality. Peto started his painting career in Philadelphia, where he lived until the late 1880s. The still life's newspaper carries the date 1891, suggesting that he made this painting after 1889, when he moved to New Jersey. There he sold his paintings at the local drugstore to friends and local businesses.
