Paintings

Paintings are non-craftable decorative furniture items that can be placed on background Walls. Each is a framed image that depicts a particular scene, usually Terraria-related. Their tooltips generally contain a person's name, apparently intended to credit each painting's artist; some names may be fictional, though some correspond to known Terraria sprite designers (see Trivia below).

There are currently 70 obtainable paintings, of which 14 are sold by the Painter under certain circumstances; 15 are found placed naturally in underground cabins, 22 in the Dungeon, and 13 in the Underworld; 5 are acquired from Goodie Bags; and 1 is awarded by the Angler for completing a quest.

From Painter
Paintings purchased from the Painter bear the tooltip "V. Costa Moura", apparently the artist's name.

Trivia

 * Some tooltips correspond to members of Terraria's development staff:
 * V. Costa Moura: Victor "Crowno" Moura
 * J. T. Myhre: Jim T Myhre
 * A. Craig: Aaron Craig
 * W. Garner: Will Garner
 * D. Phelps: David Phelps