Description

Ink and watercolor on paper trompe l'oeil representing a family of peasants as a torn painting glued with wax seals to a board. Northern school, possibly Flanders, after 1750. Set in an ebonized frame with a gilt insert.

Trompe l'oeil is the French for "Cheat the eye" and refers to all the works that attempt to deceive the viewer in making him believe he is seeing something that is merely painted in an illusory fashion. In this case, the wood board, the wax seals, the painting and its torn corner, are a single composition executed on the same sheet. Cornelis Gysbrechts, and other Dutch artists of the late seventeenthcentury, brought Trompe l'oeil to the heights of mastery.

Trompe l'oeil paintings require considerable proficiency and are more difficult to execute in watercolor than in paint.

Dimensions

9.5in X 6.75in (24cm X 17cm)

Condition

Three corner tips rubbed. Pin holes upper and lower right corners. Point of border abrasion upper left in black border.

Price
$1,000