The Attributes of the Painter

A studio wall displaying the tools of the artist’s trade was the ultimate self-reflexive subject of trompe l’oeil, a means of representing representation. Here, the painter’s palette, brushes, maulstick (used to support the hand holding the paintbrush), and bottle of oil cast lively shadows that also indicate the proximity of the background plane. Above, a toppled hourglass and spent candle symbolize the transience of life, but Gijsbrechts undercuts the moralizing by revealing the scene to be mere illusion: the canvas peels off its stretcher, while a disingenuously rough sketch for that composition, nailed to the wall, ironically mimes the curling corner. Such virtuoso illusionism required an artist to hide the mark of his own hand, including signatures; Gijsbrechts coyly embedded his autograph in the note folded over the palette knife.