Trompe l'Oeil Still Life (c. 1754): Art, History and Details

Trompe l'Oeil Still Life (c. 1754) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jacobus Cornelis Meyer (Dutch, active 1700s).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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.

Object facts

• Title: Trompe l'Oeil Still Life
• Date: c. 1754
• Creator attribution: Jacobus Cornelis Meyer (Dutch, active 1700s)
• Culture: Netherlands
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: 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.)
• Collection: DR - Dutch
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1955.376

A detail from the museum

In addition to tricking the eye, trompe l’oeil images like this one were meant to demonstrate an artist’s skill.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Brown

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.