Date posted: April 23, 2005

The Eye Deceived

Mauritshuis, The Hague, The Netherlands (until May 15, 2005)

For a moment I too was deceived. The pinewood in the paintings of the Flemish painter Cornelius Gijsbrechts looks astonishingly real. With its knots and splinters even from up close it looks as if a piece of wood has been varnished.

It reminded me of the famous anecdote from antequity about the competition between Zeuxis and Parrhasios as to who was the best painter. Zeuxis’ painting of a bunch of grapes was so realistic birds tried to eat them. When he asked Parrhasios to remove the curtain so he could see his painting, it turned out that the curtain was actually painted. Zeuxis admitted defeat, saying that he had deceived the birds, but that Parrhasios had deceived him.

Cornelius Gijsbrechts specialised in trompe-l-oeil paintings (e.g. here). Little is known about his life. His first known painting dates back to 1657. From 1668 to 1672 he worked at the Danish court, where he produced most of the paintings for which he is now famous. I must say that apart from the wood the paintings failed to deceive me. Perhaps this is because I’m too much of an image savvy person, perhaps it is because of the setting, the lighting and the fact that you know you’re looking at paintings. The odd thing is that the effect is much stronger in some reproductions. We are accustomed to seeing three dimensions in a two dimensional image, so that, when we see a photo of a trompe-l-oeil painting hanging on a wall, the brain does not correct for the fact that the scene within the scene is a visual illusion.

In the 19th century the American painter John Frederick Peto painted various similar trompe-l-oeil paintings (e.g. here, or here), but except for "The Cup We all Race For" his work does not even begin to compare with Cornelius Gijsbrechts’ formidable craftmanship.

Gijsbrechts’ most spectacular achievement is a work, which shows an easel, a still life of fruit, the back of a painting resting against the easel, some brushes, a palette, a small portrait of Charles V, king of Denmark and a written note. The panel as a whole has been cut out along the contours of the scene it depicts, adding to the illusion. I found that insofar as the illusion goes, it worked best seen from a distance. Another painting, “Studio Wall and Vanitas Still Life” (1668), also shows a palette and brushes among other objects. What I find interesting about the palette is that to render it convincingly Gijsbrechts had to DO on the canvas what he did on his actual palette. Aristotle would have cheered at such an example of mimesis. Here's another example.

The most interesting painting in the exhibition is an unframed painting depicting the reverse of a framed painting (pictured above circa 1670-72). To add to the effect, attached to the painting within the painting, Gijsbrechts has painted a piece of paper with the number 36. Gijsbrechts included paintings of the reverse of a painting in various other works, but as an independent work this painting could easily fit into the 20th century avant-gardes.

As a matter of fact Roy Lichtenstein, although not an avant-garde artist, also painted the reverse of a painting in his signature comic book style (“Stretcher Frame with Cross Bars III”, 1968). I don’t know whether he knew the painting by Gijsbrechts. In any case, Gijsbrechts version is far more striking. There is no mistaking “Stretcher Frame with Cross Bars III” for a painting by Roy Lichtenstein, whereas the painting by Cornelius Gijsbrechts is almost self-effacing.

Concurrent with the Cornelius Gijsbrechts exhibition the Mauritshuis shows Vermeer’s The Art of Painting, which is part of the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. At the time of the 1996 Vermeer exhibition it was too fragile to transport, but after renovation it is now temporarily on show in the same room as the three Vermeers in the Mauritshuis’ collection.

The Art of Painting is quite simply an astonishing painting. Period. The same goes for “Girl with a Pearl Earring”. Forget about impressionism, expressionism, fauvism and all those other 19th and 20th century isms in painting and try for a moment to escape her eyes and look at how Vermeer has painted the blue yellow scarf. Girl with a Pearl Earring has been called the Mona Lisa of the north, and she is. The way Vermeer has captured her as she looks over her shoulder as if someone called at her in passing by, gives the painting a sense of intimacy. It is as if she looks at you, and only you, from which ever angle you look, and whether you’re alone with her in a room, which is unlikely given the painting’s growing popularity, or in a crowd.

And yes, I’ve got the postcard. It is only self-acclaimed intellectuals and so-called art critics who look down upon the postcard buying public. You’d be surprised to know how many artists buy postcard reproductions of works of art.

The Mauritshuis by the way is a truly exquisite museum. It houses various masterpieces by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Holbein, Paulus Potter, Peter Paul Rubens and many others. As with many museums, I like to go there from time to time and just walk around to see whatever catches my eye on that particular visit.

This time around it was Jan Steen’s “The Life of Man” and Rembrandt’s portrait of two black men. Jan Steen is renowned for his drinking scenes. “The Life of Man” shows an inn with people drinking, laughing, gambling, playing and eating oysters and fresh fruit. At the top of the painting you can see a half drawn curtain, emphasizing the idea as expressed also by Shakespeare in “As You Like It” (II, vii, 139-143), that “All the world's a stage. And all the men and women merely players.” If you look closely, in the middle about one-third from the top you can make out a young boy on the inn’s attic, blowing soap bubbles down towards the guests.

There is no best time to visit the Mauritshuis. It opens at 10 am but before that you will find groups of highly disciplined Japanese tourists queuing in front of the entrance. But it is well worth the visit. And with a little luck you can have some private moments with the Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Links:

An excellent Vermeer site