Just Dessert

William Michael Harnett · 1891

William Michael Harnett: American, 1848 - 1892

UnclassifiedUnited States

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Documented holdings of works attributed to William Michael Harnett. Check the museum’s record for current display information.

National Gallery of Art4 recorded works
Art Institute of Chicago2 recorded works
Minneapolis Institute of Art1 recorded work
Smithsonian American Art Museum1 recorded work
The Cleveland Museum of Art1 recorded work
The Metropolitan Museum of Art1 recorded work

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Just Dessert

1891

Dating: Exact year
Held at: Art Institute of Chicago
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 56.6 × 68 cm (22 1/4 × 26 3/4 in.)
Collection no.: 1942.50
Attribution: By the artist
Image rights: CC0 1.0License details

William Michael Harnett. Just Dessert. Art Institute of Chicago. CC0 1.0. Compressed full-frame reproduction.

Collection: Art Institute of Chicago

About this artwork

Just Dessert — William Michael Harnett. 1891.

Medium: Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 56.6 × 68 cm (22 1/4 × 26 3/4 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

One of only three works William Michael Harnett painted in the year before his death, Just Dessert offers the viewer a display of foodstuffs sumptuously arranged on a marble surface. The traditional tabletop composition is one that Harnett often employed in his still lifes. In Just Dessert , the exotic clashes with the quotidian—Maraschino liqueur, half a coconut, and Smyrna figs rest alongside a copper pitcher, pewter tankard, and ginger jar. Small crumbs of cork are visible on the grapes and fig seeds are smashed on the side of the wooden box, indicating that the dessert has been eaten, as well as highlighting Harnett’s skillful renderings in trompe l’oeil (fool-the-eye) painting.

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.

Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.

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