Trompe l'oeil Painting

The word Trompe l'oeil is a french word meaning "deceive the eye." The term refers to a highly three dimensional painting style, in which the appearance of the painted objects or subject matter is tangible for the eye. These paintings are often based from a still life, but some are more realistic than others. The style is generally credited to being developed in the baroque period (Rome,Italy, Europe 1600's), but has been popular both before and after that time. Samuel Van Hoogstraten is an example of a painter from this period. Here is an example of one of his works.

The theory of perspective drawing to vanishing points was emphasized in the Renaissance period subsequently advancing this painting style. This piece is a great example of Trompe l'oeil because of the limited depth and the detailed volume and color variation in the objects. Hoogstraten captured the movement and physical nature of all the objects in the frame. The ribbons look crinkly and floppy, the pincushion looks puffy and full, and the leather looks thick and springy. The string of pearls is amazing. Each pearl is size appropriate and the shading is varied in each one.

Edward Collier was another notable painter of this style in the Golden Age. His subject matter was similar, but slightly pictorialized and not quite as realistic as Van Hoogstraten. Collier also has a way of giving significance to the objects he portrays by stylizing them. In this painting the combination of objects seem personal and significant

in some way, where as in the Hoogstraten painting the objects appear randomly collected, like a snapshot of reality. While learning about Trompe l'oeil painting, the first example that popped into my head is a painting that hangs in the restaurant I work for. The work is by Jose Fors, a cuban painter. We have three of his paintings in the restaurant, all very successful Trompe l'oeil examples.

This one is on two panels and the objects are larger than life size. I love this combination of still life and portraiture. I also love how Fors is able to combine the three dimensional style with abstract textures and flat elements.