This small panel is an example of trompe l’oeil (French for “deceive the eye”), an image intended to create the illusion of an actual object in space. This example, by French artist François-Xavier Vispré, mimics the appearance of a framed engraving under broken glass. In this example, Vispré amalgamated two prints by noted French painter and etcher Jacques Callot: Beggar with a Wooden Leg and Beggar with Crutches, Wearing a Hat, Seen from Behind. The engravings are from one of Callot’s most well-known series, The Beggars, produced from 1592 to 1635. (The images on Vispré’s paintings are reversed from Callot’s prints, possibly because several of Callot’s series were occasionally printed in reverse.) The series was tremendously popular well into the 18th century. Images from The Beggars were reproduced widely in subsequent prints, paintings, and even on tableware and vases.
Trompe l’oeil paintings were highly sought-after in the 18th century, admired for their technical virtuosity as well as the entertaining play on perceptions that they provided. Vispré, though skilled at representing a variety of still-life subjects, made something of a specialty of cracked-frame paintings like this one. His expertise is evident in the rendering of the broken glass, recreating the transparency and reflective quality of the material. Visprés replicated the appearance of the paper’s surface with equal precision, even creating the illusion of an engraving plate mark surrounding the image.
