Trompe l'oeil with Palettes and Miniature
Playfully alluding to the artist’s own role as an illusionist is a recurrent theme of trompe l’oeil (fool the eye) paintings. On two palettes Le Motte has represented blotches of paint with paint, while he also uses the medium to represent a scene of two men huddling together, once as a painting within his painting, and again as an etching with mock signature lines. Trompe l’oeil subjects enjoyed popularity throughout eighteenth- and ninteenth-century Europe. Attributions for this painting have varied, but its similarity to signed and dated paintings in Dijon and Strasbourg suggest Le Motte’s authorship.
Artwork Details
- Title: Trompe l'oeil with Palettes and Miniature
- Artist: Attributed to Jean François de Le Motte (French, born before 1635–died in or after 1685)
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 46 7/8 x 36 1/8 in. (119.1 x 91.8 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Bequest of Harry G. Sperling, 1971
- Object Number: 1976.100.13
- Curatorial Department: European Paintings
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