Art and Illusions: Masterpieces of Trompe l'oeil at Palazzo Strozzi
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Andrea Mantegna (Italian, 1431-1506). St. Mark The Evangelist (ca. 1450). Mixed technique on canvas. 81 x 64 cm (31.9 x 25.2 in.). Städel Museum, Frankfurt. |
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Pere Borrell Del Caso (Spanish, 1835-1910). Escaping Criticism (1874). Oil on canvas. 76 x 63 cm (29.9 x 24.8 in.). Collection of the Bank of Spain. |
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Domenico Remps (Italian, ca. 1621-1699). Scarabattolo (ca. 1675). Oil on canvas. 99 x 137 cm (39 x 59.9 in.). Opificio delle pietre dure, Florence. |
By STAN PARCHIN
August 12, 2009
Trompe l'oeil is a form of illusionistic art that attempts to represent realistically three-dimensional objects in two-dimensional space, as on a painting's surface. The French expression literally means "fool the eye." Art and Illusions: Masterpieces of Trompe l'oeil from Antiquity to the Present, an exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, Italy (October 16, 2009-January 24, 2010), traces the technique's history and development. It also addresses artists' wit and deliberate trickery as well as the neuroscience of perception as they relate to some 140 compositions on loan from museums and collections worldwide.
Origins of Trompe l'oeil
Man's fascination with optical illusions can be traced to antiquity. Ancient Greek and Roman art was intended to be mimetic or imitative of the truth. To that end, Art and Illusions... begins with several Roman wall paintings. It then describes the Italian Renaissance interest in classical art, the evolution of scientific perspective and Flemish painters’ meticulous rendering of reality that led to the first still lifes.
St. Mark the Evangelist by Andrea Mantegna
Mantegna's St. Mark the Evangelist, its surface abraded, portrays the apostle resting his heavy bearded head on his right arm while gazing pensively from within an arched marble window. The author’s thick manuscript, strongly foreshortened, leans outward on the setting's generically classical architectural frame. The text protrudes into the viewer's space, enhancing the illusion of three-dimensionality. Curiously draped above and in front of the setting is a swag of citrus fruit, myrtle and juniper sprays that surround a gem and three pearls; their symbolism remains a mystery.
From Naturalism to Optical Deception
The exhibition raises a number of important aesthetic questions. When does naturalism in painting cross the line into the world of optical deception, transforming a still life into an example of trompe l'oeil? How is the ambiguity between painted and real space resolved in a work like Escaping Criticism (1874) by the Catalan Pere Borrell del Caso (1835-1910)? Or is it?
Popular in aristocratic circles of 17th-century Europe, painted wunderkammer (cabinets of curiosities) illustrated objets d'art and naturalia in a fictive space. One prime example is the Scarbattolo (1675) by Domenico Remps (ca. 1621-1699), a trompe l'oeil masterpiece. The artist realistically rendered the contents of the glass cabinet of Grand Prince Ferdinando III de' Medici of Tuscany (r. 1663-1713), including a strange skull and assorted ivory items, in an illusionistic fashion. The painting of false walls and doors, simulated letters and playing cards, people, animals, sculpture and self-portraits is also addressed. Attention is paid to optical illusions in western European manuscript decoration.
After a discussion of hyper-realism in anatomical and botanical wax sculpture (perfected during the 18th-century Enlightenment for the purposes of instruction), the exhibition concludes with a brief consideration of illusion in architecture and contemporary art.
Under the title "Deceptively Real: The Art of Trompe l'oeil," the special exhibition travels next to the Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg, Germany from February 13 to May 24, 2010.
Source
Boorsch, Suzanne, Keith Christiansen, David Ekserdjian, et al. Andrea Mantegna (exh. cat.). London and New York: Royal Academy of Arts and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, 119-121.
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