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Trompe L'Oeil Louvered Fireboard
1810–40
Object Place: probably Philadelphia
Medium/Technique
Paint on wood panel
Dimensions
100.3 x 123.8 cm (39 1/2 x 48 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds by exchange from the Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Bequest of Rosamond F. Peirce, and Gift of Martha C. Karolik for the M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Paintings, 1815-1865
Accession Number2005.327
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsPaintings
During the summer, a fireboard was placed within an empty hearth to beautify it. Although the central landscape with a hilltop castle looks European, wood analysis has revealed that the panel is tulip poplar, a species native to North America. Therefore, the scene was painted in the United States, perhaps using a European print as a model. The surrounding panels combine actual slats with painted ones, along with a trompe l'oeil (fool-the-eye) still life of shells.
DescriptionCenter panel depicts an idyllic landscape and is held in place by wooden turned buttons on the reverse panel. Framed at the top and bottom with still-life details of trompe l'oeil louvers and shell-filled niches. The louvers to either side of the central panel are functional, for the purpose of providing ventilation. Used to close a fireplace opening in the summer months.
Provenancethe artist; Joe Kindig, York, Pennsylvania; Peter Tillou, Litchfield, Connecticut, 1972; Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little; with Sotheby's, New York, The Bertram K. Little and Nina Fletcher Little Collection, Part II, October 21-22, 1994, Sale 6612, lot 834; with Leigh Keno American Antiques, New York; with Sotheby's, New York, May 19, 2005, sale N08097, Lot 187; to MFA, 2005, purchase.