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Trompe L'Oeil
Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts (Flemish, active 1659–about 1672)
1663
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Framed: 92.1 × 102.9 × 10.2 cm (36 1/4 × 40 1/2 × 4 in.)
Overall: 73.7 × 86.4 cm (29 × 34 in.)
Overall: 73.7 × 86.4 cm (29 × 34 in.)
Credit Line
The Maida and George Abrams Collection—Museum acquisition with funds donated by Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art
Accession Number2020.397
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Together with Rembrandt pupil Samuel van Hoogstraten, Cornelis Gijsbrechts was the undisputed master of trompe l’oeil painting, yet his paintings are not often found outside of Europe. This large and elegant painting displays an opened cabinet with handwritten notes, books, and newspapers. Gijsbrechts signed his name on a curled, Rembrandtesque etching of an old man at the center of the composition.
InscriptionsSigned and dated on print of an old man at center. G.N. Gijsbrechts A 1665
Provenance1950, Hanover Gallery, London. 1951, Robert Frank, London. Possibly Duits Gallery, London [see note 1]. Galerie Marcus, Paris [see note 2]. By 1964, Oscar Salzer (b. 1898 –d. 1987) and Maria Salzer (b. 1897 – d. 1991), Los Angeles [see note 3]; 1982, gift of Oscar and Maria Salzer to the Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art and Science (accession no. FMM 82.31); 2010, Fresno Metropolitan Museum closed; June 3, 2010, consigned by the Fresno Metropolitan Museum for sale, Sotheby’s, New York lot 52, sold to Johnny van Haeften (dealer), London; 2010, sold by Johnny van Haeften to George S. Abrams, Newton, MA; 2020, sold by George S. Abrams to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 16, 2020)
NOTES:
[1] Alan Chong and Wouter Kloek, Still-Life Paintings from the Netherlands, 1550-1720 (Zwolle, 1999), p. 233, cat. no. 56 state that after being exhibited at the Hanover Gallery in 1950, the painting belonged to Robert Frank in 1951 and may have passed through Duits Gallery. [2] Georges Marlier, “C. N. Gijsbrechts: L’Illusionniste,” Connaissance des Arts 145 (March 1964): p. 103, as formerly in the Marcus collection, Paris, probably the Galerie Marcus. [3] “The Salzer Collection: Trompe L’Oeil and Still Life Paintings. A Loan Exhibition” (Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, October 4 – November 1, 1964), cat. no. 20.
NOTES:
[1] Alan Chong and Wouter Kloek, Still-Life Paintings from the Netherlands, 1550-1720 (Zwolle, 1999), p. 233, cat. no. 56 state that after being exhibited at the Hanover Gallery in 1950, the painting belonged to Robert Frank in 1951 and may have passed through Duits Gallery. [2] Georges Marlier, “C. N. Gijsbrechts: L’Illusionniste,” Connaissance des Arts 145 (March 1964): p. 103, as formerly in the Marcus collection, Paris, probably the Galerie Marcus. [3] “The Salzer Collection: Trompe L’Oeil and Still Life Paintings. A Loan Exhibition” (Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, October 4 – November 1, 1964), cat. no. 20.