Straw Hat, Bag, and Umbrella

John Frederick Peto

National Gallery of Art

A wide-brimmed straw hat, teal-green umbrella, and rust-brown satchel hang from a nail at the center of this vertical, still-life painting. The nail is driven into a clover-green plank across the top of the picture, perhaps representing molding on the wall otherwise mottled with beige and ash brown. The short black handle of the floral-patterned bag is looped over the nail. The long umbrella has a wood, knob-like handle and is edged around the limp, collapsed edge with parchment white. It is not clear how the umbrella is affixed to the bag or nail, but the hat hangs from a string looped around one the umbrella ribs. The arrangement is lit sharply from the left so deep shadows are cast on the wall to the right. The wall or column ends near the left edge of the painting, and a black strip there could be a view into a shadowy room beyond.