#gysbrechts

"Vanitas"

Cornelis Norbertus Gysbrechts - Reverse Side of a Painting (1670)

Like any practical joke, trompe l'oeil is a two-stage game. The first stage is illusion, when you're taken in. The second stage is realisation, when you're appreciating how it's done. But there is one ultimate trick. What better, what more obvious subject for a trompe l'oeil picture than a picture itself? You thought you were looking at a picture - but no, you're mistaken; it's only a picture of a picture. The painting by Cornelius Gijsbrechts called The Reverse Side of a Painting is exactly that.

On a medium-sized canvas, the artist has painted the likeness of a framed painting, seen from behind. It's a nest of rectangles. On the outside, there's the woodwork of the picture's frame. Inside that, there's another wooden oblong, the stretcher, to which the canvas is attached. And within that, a darker grey-brown, the bare back of the canvas shows.