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Trompe-l'oeil of prints and documents

Maker

Simon Georges Joseph, Baron Pfaffenhoffen Pfaff (artist)
1715-1784

Title

Date of Production

1700 - 1799

Medium

pen and red, black and grey ink, watercolour, bodycolour on paper, framed in black ink and pink wash, laid down on a historic support

Dimensions

Height: 34.1 cm
Width: 42.7 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.999

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

History, religion, science and the arts are all alluded to in the collection of documents and prints so cleverly arranged in this work. Other than inviting the learned viewer to identify and seek out connection between the various items, this work seems to suggest that the representational skill of the painter can encompass all areas of human activity. This claim was rejected by critics who felt such illusionism confirmed that still-life painting was mere trickery.

Provenance

Spencer (London); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), n.d.; Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Second Nature, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/06/2000-03/09/2000

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Verso (support?): right centre: crowned shield containing a horn, flanked below by the letters “I” and “M” (not found in Churchill or Heawood).

Inscription: Recto: within the drawing, each ‘sheet of paper’ in the trompe l’oeil has writing on it, in German, French, Greek and Hebrew; lower right corner, yellow bodycolour, signed by the artist: “Bn. PFAFFENHOFFEN.”. Support (historic), Verso: upper left corner, graphite: “after 1773”.

Collector's mark: none.

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