Jean François de La Motte 1635 Tournai-1685 T... Lot n° 3

Vanitas with books, hourglass, butterfly and shell initialed "JFD" or "JFDL" on the folded leaflet inserted between the pages of one of the books "(...) In his trompe-l'œil Jean-François De Le Motte describes with precision and realism many kinds of subjects and objects such as papers, sheets, letters, cards, books, drawings paintings and engravings. More often than not, this is to evoke the shelves of a painter's workshop with palette and poggiman, brushes and agglutinators, containers for mixing colors, glasses and canvases, scissors and frames. References from one canvas to another are frequent and characteristic of the genre as characteristic are the quotations and references to other painters. These citations are of two kinds : on the one hand, the painter cites a composition as a whole as if it were to make a copy of it but which a true copy never is by virtue of the minimal and conscious deviations that it makes and which establish a dialogue with the chosen model to which the painter finally pays homage (in the case of Jean-François De Le Motte it is often a matter of referring to the works of his contemporary Cornelis Norbertus Gysbrechts (1630 - 1683). On the other hand, it is a matter of reproducing drawings, engravings, sculptures, and paintings by other artists that Jean-François De Le Motte grafts onto his own canvases, which he often signs with his own name as if he were actually the author. The goal sought is in the two cases to bring to paroxysm the pleasure one derives from contemplating each still life (of which trompe-l'oeil is a kind of subgenre) whose main prerogative is to deceive the eye, but not only that. Jean-François De Le Motte's trompe-l'oeil can in fact be described as hyper-vanitas. If it is vain to reproduce the reality that still life reproduces by attempting to tromper la vue (deceive), it is even more vain to reproduce an artifact that attempts to imitate nature such as, for example, a bas-relief by the sculptor François Duquesnoy (1597 - 1643) that Jean-François De Le Motte reproduces by imitating with painting the technique of sculpture. It is clear, however, that the mise en abyme typical of these artifacts, which not coincidentally emphasize the Platonic myth of the cave, instead of achieving a warning as to the illusory character of sensory perception and thus of representation (of representation), serves to amuse and please not only the veracity of the representation but also the erudition that the person viewing the painting must possess in order to enjoy all the clin-d'œil that the painter has scattered across his canvas. The painter of trompe-l'œil in short invites us to unravel a rebus, to participate in a game, offering us a divertissement plus qu'un avertissement in which the painting is the product of a close connivance between the one who realizes it and its viewer. (...)" W. 161 - H. 92 mm watercolor on parchment Expertise Dr. Claudia Salvi (Paris, 5/31/2023) Private collection, Pavia The work is in good conservation/aesthetic condition. Presence of few and minimal gaps near the margins (not involving the composition). In order. "(...) In his trompe-l'œil Jean-François De Le Motte describes with precision and realism many kinds of subjects and objects such as papers, sheets, letters, cards, books, drawings paintings and engravings. More often than not, this is to evoke the shelves of a painter's workshop with palette and poggiman, brushes and agglutinators, containers for mixing colors, glasses and canvases, scissors and frames. References from one canvas to another are frequent and characteristic of the genre as characteristic are the quotations and references to other painters. These citations are of two kinds : on the one hand, the painter cites a composition as a whole as if it were to make a copy of it but which a true copy never is by virtue of the minimal and conscious deviations that it makes and which establish a dialogue with the chosen model to which the painter finally pays homage (in the case of Jean-François De Le Motte it is often a matter of referring to the works of his contemporary Cornelis Norbertus Gysbrechts (1630 - 1683). On the other hand, it is a matter of reproducing drawings, engravings, sculptures, and paintings by other artists that Jean-François De Le Motte grafts onto his own canvases, which he often signs with his own name as if he were actually the author. The goal sought is in the two cases to bring to paroxysm the pleasure one derives from contemplating each still life (of which trompe-l'oeil is a kind of subgenre) whose main prerogative is to deceive the eye, but not only that. Jean-François De Le Motte's trompe-l'oeil can in fact be described as hyper-vanitas. If it is vain to reproduce the reality that still life reproduces by trying to tromper la vue (deceive) it is even more vain to ripr