Trompe l'Oeil Still Life
Medium
pen and ink, point of brush and black ink wash, watercolor and gouache
Dimensions
37.3 × 27.4 cm
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Brown
Accession Number
1955.376
Tags
About this artwork
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 fic...