FRENCH SCHOOL, Eighteenth Century
Trompe L’Oeil of a Letter Rack
oil on canvas
12 x 14 ½ inches (30.5 x 37 cm.)
Letter rack paintings were popular in the eighteenth century particularly in France, England, The Netherlands, Spain and Germany[1], and their intent was twofold. One was “to startle the eye with a virtuoso ability to create the illusion of graspable objects in paint”.[2] The other was a “vanitas which displayed a collection of objects chosen and arranged to remind the viewer, through a familiar grammar of visual signs, of the transience of life and the vacuousness of worldly success.”[3]
In this work a single red leather strap nailed to a light pine wood board with dark round knots holds letters, red sealing wax, scissors, playing cards, a tooled leather bound book and a quill. Above are a pair of glasses, sealing stamp and a pen knife. Below the two rows of objects is a solitary gold ring with jewels that hangs from a nail.
The letters are shown with the implements that formed them; the scissors that cut the paper, the quill for writing and pen knife that sharpened it, the sealing wax and stamp that sealed the folded paper, and of course spectacles for sight. At this time letters were folded into intricate rectangles, as envelopes as we think of them today were not invented until the nineteenth century.[4] Ephemeral in nature, letters are only of transitory importance. The playing cards, book and ring further embellish the painting’s message. The cards represent the fleeting pleasure derived from games of chance; the book “the futility of human endeavor in the sweep of time”[5]; and the ring emblematic of riches, the hollowness of the pursuit of worldly goods.