Martinus Josephus Geeraerts (attributed)

A Trompe L’Oeil of a Sculpted Putto

oil on canvas

14 1/8"×12 3/4" (36.3 cm×32.4 cm)

PROVENANCE:

Grisaille paintings became popular in the Southern Netherlands from 1730 onwards mainly due to the efforts of Martinus Josephus Geeraerts (1707 - 1781) and Jacob de Wit (1695 - 1754). (1) The success of these works reflected the mood of the times. A renewed interest in the antique had been stimulated by excavations at Herculaneum, Paestum, and Pompeii from 1738 - 1756. The archaeological finds, as well as other examples from antiquity, were illustrated, disseminated, and popularized through a series of books including those by Count Caylus, Recueil d’antiquités égyptiennes, étrusques, grecques, romaines et gauloises (1752 - 1767), Giovanni-Battista Piranesi, Vedute di Roma (1750) and Antichità romane (1756), as well as James Stuart and Nicholas Revett’s, Antiquities of Athens (1762). Labeled neo-classicism, this became an artistic movement that embraced the so-called antique ideals of calm, simplicity, and noble grandeur. The only way of achieving these goals was believed to be by direct imitation of antique models.

Quite a number of grisaille paintings were done to meet the decorative demands of neo-classical interiors which side-stepped the greater cost of three-dimensional works. Putti were favorite subjects and worked well as inventive adaptations of the antique. Yet not all were done as substitutes, some paintings were done for the pure pleasure of deception. Our putto while reflective of its formative ideals, is an intimate work. Painted in varying shades of white and grey, the illusion of marble is maintained through light and shadow, cast from left to right by an unseen source playing across the surface, convincingly creating height and depth. It is its solidity and inherent stillness that set it apart, as well as its imitation of sculpture. The majority of these works were intended to represent relief.

Not a great deal of research has been done on the grisaille trompe l’oeil artists of this period. Very few works are signed or documented. Martinus Josephus Geeraerts’s attributed paintings when viewed as a group actually represent several artists. We are left with a somewhat clouded attribution but with the quality and poetry of the painting intact.

We are indebted to Fred G. Meijer for his invaluable assistance in the writing of this entry.

(1) David Oldfield, “Pieter de Gree” in Later Flemish Paintings in the National Gallery of Ireland, National Gallery of Ireland, 1992, p. 65.

Home Page | Upcoming | Catalog | About Us | Services | Search | Contact Us | Links