John Frederick Peto’s art was his life, which he illustrates in this self-portrait. Set in the living room of his home in Island Heights, New Jersey, Peto gazes at the viewer with a relaxed and warm expression. Peto was not financially successful as an artist, so he earned his living playing the cornet and selling artworks to tourists. Although he worked in obscurity, he was a prolific artist who painted not for artistic fame, but because for him, art was inseparable from life.