Section IX
SELF-PORTRAIT OF AN ILLUSION
A playful imagination, the science of perception and technical prowess are the means that trompe l’œil uses to astonish us with the “reality” of illusion, while at the same time forcefully drawing our attention to the precarious and ambiguous nature of appearances and of knowledge itself. This reflection, hinted at in many of the works on display, comes to the fore in the pictures in this section devoted to the power of self-representation that was peculiar to painting.Corners of studios, paintings portrayed within paintings and chantourné easels were used in the 17th and 18th centuries as allegories of deceptive artifice, although this in no way undermined trompe l’œil’s persuasive fascination. The decline in the demand for imitative painting that began with Romanticism offered different food for thought to a genre like trompe l’œil, causing it to ask questions regarding the very nature and function of painting, as in William Davis’ A Canvas Back, or the more recent Easel by Michelangelo Pistoletto. Yet like in a hall of mirrors, doubts on the validity of painterly deception provided the perfect opportunity for reaffirming the genre’s appeal.
