Trompe-l'Oeil Still Life with a Flower Garland and a Curtain
Adriaen van der Spelt (Dutch, 1630–1673), Frans van Mieris (Dutch, 1635–1681)
1658
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Materials & printing
Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front. Sized to standard frames by cropping, never stretching — at most about 3% comes off one edge, which isn’t noticeable on most pieces, and we only offer a size when it stays that small.
Shipping & returns
Made to order and delivered in 5–8 business days (2–4 to print, 3–4 in transit). US shipping only for now. Because each print is made for your order, all sales are final — but if it arrives damaged or defective, send us a photo within 14 days and we’ll replace it free. Full policy.
Why is it this affordable?
A thin, flat margin on every piece — just enough to keep the store running. Most of what you pay is the print itself. We only sell sizes that reproduce at full quality, and we don’t mark up the large sizes the way most shops do.
About this work
Adrien van der Spelt’s splendid garland displays about 20 floral varieties—including a tulip, a 16th-century import from Persia that would eventually become an icon of Dutch culture. The deceptively realistic blue curtain, painted by Frans van Mieris, refers to the historical strategy for protecting paintings but also to the tale of Parhassius, a skilled Greek artist who fooled his rival into attempting to pull back a curtain painted onto one of his pictures. Examples of collaborative works by Dutch artists from this period are rare, perhaps due to the intense competition created by the region’s thriving art market.
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Original size
- 46.5 × 63.9 cm (18 1/4 × 25 1/8 in.)
Museum record · 4 owners · 6 exhibitions
Provenance
- Henric Bugge van Ring (died 1669), Leyden, by 1667.
- 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; by descent to George Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, Stafford House, London (d. 1861) to at least 1854.
- Vitale Bloch, Paris, by 1949; sold to Art Institute of Chicago, 1949.
Exhibitions
- Paris, Musée de l’Orangerie, La nature morte de l’antiquité à nos jours, April—June 1952, cat., as van der Spelt.
- New York, Wildenstein, Magic of Flowers in Painting, April 13—May 15, 1954, cat., as van der Spelt Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Art of the Edge: European Frames 1300-1900, Oct. 17—Dec.14, 1986, cat., as van der Spelt.
- The Hague, Mauritshuis, Great Dutch Paintings from America, Sept. 28, 1990–Jan. 13, 1991, cat.; 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..
- The Hague, Mauritshuis, Frans van Mieris 1635-1681, Oct. 1, 2005–Jan. 12, 2006, cat.; 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.
