Trompe l’Oeil with Violin, Music Book, and Recorder
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.With its bow pointing to a recorder, a violin presides over a deceptively casual array of sheet music, a newspaper, a booklet, and implements for writing (uncut feathers, a pen case, an ink bottle, a penknife, and quill pens). Composing and making music—a creative art form akin to painting—was Gijsbrechts’s theme in this trompe l’oeil tour de force. A letter draped over the leather strap anchors the rhythmic composition on the right; it not only advertises the artist’s position as court painter to Christian V, king of Denmark, but also serves as the artist’s signature. The violin turns respectfully toward this precious document.
Artwork Details
- Title: Trompe l’Oeil with Violin, Music Book, and Recorder
- Artist: Cornelius Norbertus Gijsbrechts (Flemish, 1625/29–after 1677)
- Date: 1672
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 46 1⁄16 × 31 1⁄2 in. (117 × 80 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (KMS 1908)
- Rights and Reproduction: SMK Photo/Jacob Schou-Hansen
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art