National Gallery of Art (U.S.)

Wolf Singer

Paul Staiti

Sybille Ebert-Schifferer

Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr.

Alberto Veca

"Trompe l'oeil, French for "fool or deceive the eye", is a genre dating back to antiquity that has fascinated both painters and viewers from the Renaissance to the present day. Both witty and serious, it describes paintings that imitate natural appearances so convincingly that viewers momentarily mistake the objects depicted for the real thing. The moment of deception, however, is brief. Uncertainty over what is real and what is illusion is soon replaced by amusement at having been tricked and admiration for the artist's ingenuity and skill." "Deceptions and Illusions explores the art of trompe l'oeil in more than 100 European and American paintings ranging in date from the fifteenth through the twentieth centuries by such practitioners as Samuel van Hoogstraten, William M. Harnett, John Haberle, Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein. Organised thematically, the volume begins with works of art inspired by ancient prototypes and with paintings by early Renaissance artists whose close observation of nature was a prerequisite for eye-deceiving illusionism. It then presents the principal subjects of trompe l'oeil artists, beginning with images of letters, prints, dollar bills, and other essentially flat objects that appear to rest on the picture surface, and then moves to three-dimensional illusions in which objects appear to project or recede from the picture plane, blurring the boundary between real and fictitious space. Finally, the volume illustrates the legacy of the art of trompe l'oeil for twentieth-century artists." "Five essays by experts in European and American art and in the science of seeing examine the phenomenon and persistence of trompe l'oeil over the centuries."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Five Centuries of Trompe L'oeil Painting

Deceptions and Illusions

The young Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) created a major stir in late-sixteenth-century Rome with the groundbreaking naturalism and highly charged emotionalism of his paintings. One might think, given the vast number of books that have been written about him, that everything that could possibly be said about the artist has been said. However, the author of this book argues, it is important to take a fresh look at the often repeated and widely accepted narratives about the artist’s life and work. Sybille Ebert-Schifferer subjects the available sources to a critical reevaluation, uncovering evidence that the efforts of Caravaggio’s contemporaries to disparage his character and his artwork often sprang from their own cultural biases or a desire to promote the artistic achievements of his rivals. Contrary to repeated claims in the literature, the painter lacked neither education nor piety, but was an extremely accomplished technician who developed a successful marketing strategy. He enjoyed great respect and earned high fees from his prestigious clients while he also inspired a large circle of imitators. Even his brushes with the law conformed to the behavioral norms of the aristocratic Romans he sought to emulate. The beautiful reproductions of Caravaggio’s paintings in this volume make clear why he captivated the imagination of his contemporaries, a reaction that echoes today in the ongoing popularity of his work and the fierce debate that it continues to provoke among art historians.

The Artist and His Work

Caravaggio

Sybille Ebert-Schifferer

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