Peto, John F., 1854-1907, American painter, b. Philadelphia. Largely self-taught, Peto worked in the exacting style of trompe l'oeil illusionism perfected by William Harnett. He sought to put down precisely what he saw without embellishment, choosing still-life subjects from 19th-century American life. These included weathered wood panels, lanterns, and scraps of paper. His Old Cremona (Metropolitan Mus.) is a characteristic work.