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    Museum collections / Art Institute of Chicago
    Trompe-l'Oeil Still Life with a Flower Garland and a Curtain
    Adriaen van der Spelt. Trompe-l'Oeil Still Life with a Flower Garland and a Curtain, 1658. The Art Institute of Chicago. Public domain (CC0).
    AT-00001176

    Public data from the Art Institute of Chicago. Learn more

    Trompe-l'Oeil Still Life with a Flower Garland and a Curtain

    by Adriaen van der Spelt

    Inscriptions

    Inscribed lower left: van der Spelt.1658

    Provenance

    Henric Bugge van Ring (died 1669), Leyden, by 1667 [his inventory of that year, “een stuk met bloemen van der Spelt en een gordijntgen daer bij staende van Mieris” (A piece with flowers by van der Spelt and a little curtain with it by Mieris)]. John Webb, London; sold, Phillips, London, July 8–9, 1828, lot 70 as van der Spelt. George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland (d. 1833), Stafford House, London [described by Passavant 1833]; by descent to George Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, Stafford House, London (d. 1861) to at least 1854 [described by Waagen 1837 and 1854]. Vitale Bloch, Paris, by 1949; sold to Art Institute of Chicago, 1949.

    Exhibition history

    Paris, Musée de l’Orangerie, La nature morte de l’antiquité à nos jours, April—June 1952, cat. no. 48, as van der Spelt. New York, Wildenstein, Magic of Flowers in Painting, April 13—May 15, 1954, cat. no. 76, as van der Spelt Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Art of the Edge: European Frames 1300-1900, Oct. 17—Dec.14, 1986, cat. no. 35, as van der Spelt. The Hague, Mauritshuis, Great Dutch Paintings from America, Sept. 28, 1990–Jan. 13, 1991, cat. no. 57; San Francisco, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, February 16, 1991–May 5, 1991. Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Deceptions and Illusions: Five Centuries of Trompe l’Oeil Painting in Europe and America, October 13, 2002–March 2, 2003, cat. no. 10. The Hague, Mauritshuis, Frans van Mieris 1635-1681, Oct. 1, 2005–Jan. 12, 2006, cat. no. 16; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, February 26–May 21, 2006. Art Institute of Chicago, The Silk Road and Beyond: Travel Trade and Transformation, September 30, 2006-April 22, 2007, no cat. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cubism and the Trompe l’Oeil Tradition, Oct. 20, 2022 - Jan. 22, 2023, pl. 3.

    Publications

    Johann David Passavant, Kunstreise durch England und Belgien: nebst einem Bericht über den Bau des Domthurms zu Frankfurt am Main (Frankfurt: S. Schmerber 1833), 63. Gustav Friedrich Waagen, Works of Art and Artists in England (London: John Murray, 1838), 254. Anna Jameson, Companion to the Most Celebrated Private Galleries of Art in London: Containing Accurate Catalogues, Arranged Alphabetically for Immediate Reference (London: Saunders and Otley, 1844), 211. Gustav Friedrich Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, vol. 2, (London: John Murray, 1854), 71. Alfred von Wurzbach, Niederländisches Künstler-Lexikon, vol. 2, (Vienna: Halm and Goldmann, 1910), 645. Daniel Catton Rich, “In a Minor Key” Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly 47 no. 2 (April 1, 1953), 32. Patrik Reuterswärd, “Tavelförhänget. Kring ett motiv i holländskt 1600-talsmåleri,” Konsthistorisk tidskrift 25 (October 1956), 102-104 and fig. 8. Peter Mitchell, European Flower Painters (London: Adam and Charles Black 1973), 242, figs. 348 and 244. John Fowler and John Cornforth, English Decoration in the 18th Century (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1974), 100 and fig. 80. Christian Geelhaar, “Looking at Pictures with David Hockney,” Pantheon 36 (1978), 237 and fig. 8. Reinhart Schleier, “Das Stilleben im Bezugsfeld der Bildgattungen” in Gerhard Langemeyer and Hans Albert Peters, Stilleben in Europa, exh. cat. (Münster: Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst and Kulturgeschichte; Baden-Baden: Staatliche Kunsthalle, 1979-1980), 545 (ill.). Patrik Reuterswärd, “Om realismen i holländsk bildtradition,” Konsthistorisk tidskrift 49 (1980), 2, 5, and fig. 5. E. de Jongh in Still-Life in the Age of Rembrandt, exh. cat. (Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland City Art Gallery, 1982), 146 and fig. 25c under cat. no. 25. Miriam Milman, Le Trompe-L’Oeil: les illusions de la réalité (Geneva: Skira, 1982), 59 (ill.) and dustjacket. Harald Marx, Stilleben als Augentäuschung Trompe-loeil (Leipzig: VEB E.A. Seeman, 1985), 8 and fig. 4. Peter C. Sutton, A Guide to Dutch Art in America (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Netherlands Amnesty Trust, 1986), 52 and fig. 70. Eric Jan Sluijter, “’Schilders van cleyne, subtile ende curieuse dingen’: Leidse ‘fijnschilders’ in contemporaine bronnen” in Leidse fijnschilders: Van Gerrit Dou tot Frans van Mieris de Jonge (1630-1760), exh. cat. (Leiden: Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, 1988), 39-40, 52–53, 121-22, and fig. 11. Peter Hecht in De Hollandse fijnschilders: Van Gerard Dou tot Adriaen van der Werff, exh. cat. (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 1989-90), 42-3 n. 7 under cat. no. 5. Alfred Bader “Fooling the Eye,” in The Detective’s Eye Investigating the Old Masters, exh. cat. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Milwaukee Art Museum, 1989), 108 and fig. 2. Norbert Schneider, Stilleben: Realität und Symbolik der Dinge: Die Stilleben Malerei frühen Neuzeit (Cologne: Benedikt Taschen, 1989), 13 and 16 (ill.). Gilbert Creighton, "Grapes, Curtains, Human Beings: The Theory of Missed Mimesis," in Künstlerischer Austausch: Akten des XXVIII. Internationalen Kongresses für Kunstgeschichte, Berlin, 15.-20. Juli 1992 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1993), 414 and fig. 7. Alexander Sturgis, Optical Illusions in Art (New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 1994), 4 (ill.). Erika Gemar-Koeltzsch, Holländische Stillebenmaler im 17. Jahrhundert, vol. 3, Luca Bild-Lexikon (Lingen: Luca Verlag, 1995), 949-50, no. 372/1. Pieter van Thiel in Framing in the Golden Age: Picture and Frame in 17th-century Holland, translated by (Zwolle: Waanders, 1995), 352, under cat. no. 92. Mariët Westermann, The Amusements of Jan Steen: Comic Painting in the Seventeenth Century (Zwolle: Waanders, 1996), 28, 42, n. 49, and fig. 10. Catherine Donzel, Le livre des fleurs (Paris: Rybal, 1997), 56. M. Therese Southgate, The Art of JAMA: One Hundred Covers and Essays from the Journal of the American Medical Association (St. Louis, Missouri: Mosby, 1997), 16–17, ill. Sybille Ebert-Schifferer, Die Geschichte des Stillebens (Munich: Hirmer, 1998), 166 (ill.), 167, 170, fig. 120. Olaf Koester in Illusions: Gijsbrechts, Royal Master of Deception, exh. cat. (Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst), 1999, 24, fig. 3. Jet Pijzel-Dommisse, Het Hollandse Pronkpoppenhuis: Interieur en huishouden in de 17de en 18de eeuw (Zwolle: Waanders, 2000), 126, 411, n. 512. Alexander Sturgis and Hollis Clayson, Understanding Paintings: Themes in Art Explored and Explained (New York: Watson-Guptill, 2000), 224, ill., 266. Eric Jan Sluijter, “All striving to adorne their homes with costly pieces”: Two Case Studies of Paintings in Wealthy Interiors’” in Mariët Westermann, Art and Home: Dutch Interiors in the Age of Rembrandt, exh. cat. (Denver, CO: Denver Art Museum; Newark, NJ: The Newark Museum, 2001), 123, 126, fig. 168. Fred G. Meijer, The Collection of Dutch and Flemish Still-life Paintings Bequeathed by Daisy Linda Ward: Catalogue of the Collection of Paintings (Zwolle: Waanders, 2003), 295, fig. 79.2. Adriaan van der Willigen and Fred G. Meijer, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-life Painters Working in Oils, 1525-1725 (Leiden: Primavera Pers, 2003), 188. Pamela H. Smith, The Body of the Artisan: Art and Experience In the Scientific Revolution (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), 211, pl. 27. Stefan Grohé, Stillleben: Meisterwerke der holländischen Malerei (New York: Prestel, 2004), 122-123, ill. Acalya Kiyak, "Towards a Draped Architecutre: An Examination of Theatricality, Virtuosity, and Ambiguity in the Recent Works of Frank O. Gehry, and Others" (Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 2005), p. 91-93, fig. 3. Fred Meijer, “Adriaen van der Spelt,” in Old Master Paintings (London: Johnny van Haeften, 2007), under cat. no. 36. Emmanuelle Hénin, “Parrhasios and the Stage Curtain: Theatre, Metapainting and the Idea of Representation in the Seventeenth Century,” Art History 33 no. 2 (April 2010): 257, 259, pl. 2. Ariane van Suchtelen, Jan Steen in the Mauritshuis (Zwolle: Waanders, 2011), np. under no. 58, ill. Susan Merriam, Seventeenth-Century Flemish Garland Paintings: Still Life, Vision, and the Devotional Image (Farnham and Burlington, 2012), 5, 91, pl. VII. Markus Brüderlin, Hartmut Böhme, and Amy Klement, Art & Textiles: Fabric as Material and Concept in Modern Art from Klimt to the Present, exh. cat. (Ostfildern : Hatje Cantz, 2013), 54, fig. 8. Robert Fucci, “Parrhasius and the Art of Display: The Illusionistic Curtain in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting,” Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 65 (2015): 162, 169, fig. 12. Lieke Marije Janssen, Nederlandse bloomstillevenschilders in Berlijn: Nederlandse Hofkunstenaars in dientst van keuvorst Friedrich Wilhelm van Brandenburg (1620–1688), (MA thesis, University of Amsterdam, 2015), 47-48, fig 10. Kathryn Murphy, “Drawing the Curtain,” Apollo 181 no. 629 (March 2015), 152, 154 (ill.), 156, 158, and fig. 2. Victor Stoichita, “Der Vorhang des Parrhasios: Das Bild der Ähnlichkeit” in Hinter dem Vorhang: Verhüllung und Enthüllung seit der Renaissance - von Tizian bis Christo, exh. cat. (Munich: Hirmer Verlag GmbH, 2016), 71-72, fig.7. Piet Bakker, “Frans van Mieris the Elder and His Four Leiden Patrons”, in The Leiden Collection Catalogue, ed. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 3rd. ed. (New York, The Leiden Collection, 2020- ), n. 58, accessed March 23, 2021, https://theleidencollection.com/essays/frans-van-mieris-the-elder-and-his-four-leiden-patrons. José Esparza Chong Cuy and Nina Wexelblatt, Mika Horibuchi. Chicago Works 18 (Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2018), 2-4 (ill.), accessed May 4, 2021, https://mcachicago.org/Publications/Takeaways. Spike Bucklow, The Anatomy of Riches: Sir Robert Paston's Treasure (London: Reaktion Books, 2018), 246 n. 9. Amy Knight Powell, "A Short History of the Picture Box," Representations 141 (2018): 107-108, fig. 14. Andrew Moore, Nathan Fils, and Francesca Vanke, The Paston Treasure: Microcosm of the Known World, exh. cat. (New Haven, CT: Yale Center for British Art: Norwich, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, 2018), 93, fig. 61. Sam Segal and Klara Alen, Dutch and Flemish Flower Pieces: Paintings, Drawings and Prints up to the Nineteenth Century (Leiden: Brill, 2020), I: 406, 463-4. Sandra Racek, “The Fictitious Fabric of Frans van Mieris,” Examining the Collection (blog) Art Institute of Chicago, Jun 8, 2021, https://www.artic.edu/articles/929/the-fictitious-fabric-of-frans-van-mieris. María del Mar Borobia Guerrero and Guillermo Solana, Hiperreal: el arte del tram-pantojo, exh. cat. (Madrid: Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional, 2022), 71, fig. 41.

    Quick Overview

    Artist
    Adriaen van der Spelt (Dutch, 1630–1673) / Frans van Mieris (Dutch, 1635–1681)
    Date
    1658
    Medium
    Oil on panel
    Dimensions
    46.5 × 63.9 cm (18 1/4 × 25 1/8 in.); Framed: 69.2 × 86.7 × 8.3 cm (27 1/4 × 34 1/8 × 3 1/4 in.)
    Type
    Painting
    Classification
    oil on panel
    Style
    17th Century
    Place
    Netherlands
    Department
    Painting and Sculpture of Europe
    Credit line
    Wirt D. Walker Fund
    Accession no.
    1949.585

    Open-access museum data

    This record comes from the open-access collection data that the Art Institute of Chicago publishes for unrestricted use (Creative Commons Zero). Art Trackers shows a selection of the museum's published fields. The Art Institute of Chicago is not an Art Trackers client and has not reviewed or endorsed this page; the museum's own website is the authoritative record.

    • View this work at the Art Institute of Chicago
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    Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.

    Open-access museum record · AT-00001176

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