Description
Understood in the 1700s as a delightful, intellectual game, trompe l’oeil paintings and drawings such as this one were devised to “trick the eye” as the French term suggests. Toeing the line between realism and deception, the details of these compositions expose them as elaborate illusions. Here, Jacobus Cornelis Meyer’s image invites the viewer to uncover the trick. While the print depicted at center alludes to a well-known Dutch comedy revolving around hidden identity, the open curtain and fictional tears and creases in the papers encourage the viewer to physically reach out and break the illusion.
Provenance
Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Brown, Cleveland, OH, given to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (?–1955); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 8, 1955–)
Accession Number
1955.376
Medium
pen and ink, point of brush and black ink wash, watercolor and gouache
Dimensions
Sheet: 37.3 x 27.4 cm (14 11/16 x 10 13/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Brown
Tags
Drawing Baroque (1600–1750) Watercolor Ink Gouache Dutch Color: Gray
Background & Context
Background Story
Jacobus Cornelis Meyer (c. 1695-c. 1762) was an 18th-century painter known for the precisely observed trompe l'oeil still life paintings that make him one of the most accomplished practitioners of the trompe l'oeil tradition. Trompe l'Oeil Still Life from c. 1754 depicts a still life in the precisely observed, illusionistic manner that is the hallmark of the trompe l'oeil tradition, in which the painting is so precisely observed that the objects appear to be real rather than painted. The c. 1754 date places this in the period when trompe l'oeil painting was producing some of its most accomplished works, and Meyer's precisely observed treatment shows his talent for creating the illusion of real objects on a flat surface.
Cultural Impact
Trompe l'Oeil Still Life is important in the history of still life painting because it demonstrates the precisely observed, illusionistic manner of the trompe l'oeil tradition, in which the painting is so precisely observed that the objects appear to be real rather than painted. The trompe l'oeil tradition—creating the illusion of real objects on a flat surface through the precise observation that is its most distinctive feature—is one of the most accomplished traditions in still life painting, and the c. 1754 painting shows this tradition at its most precisely observed.
Why It Matters
Trompe l'Oeil Still Life is Meyer's precisely observed illusionistic painting: a still life rendered in the trompe l'oeil manner that creates the illusion of real objects on a flat surface. The c. 1754 painting shows the precisely observed, illusionistic manner that makes the trompe l'oeil tradition one of the most accomplished traditions in still life painting.
