William Michael Harnett was an Irish-American painter known for his trompe-l'œil still lifes of ordinary subjects.

Harnett was born in Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland during the Potato Famine. Shortly after his birth, his family emigrated to America and settled in Philadelphia. in 1868 after becoming a citizen of the United States, the boy earned a living by engraving designs on table silver, and also attended night classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts, and later at Cooper Union and National University in New York. His first known oil painting, a still life, dates from 1874.