Re-View: S425A (Small Niche) The Art of Deceit: Looking at French Trompe L'Oeil

Since antiquity, artists have made illusionistic works that force viewers to marvel at their craft. In 18th-century France many artists produced works that “trick the eye” (trompe l’oeil). This installation looks at three masterful examples of this genre, by Jean-Pierre-Xavier Bidauld, Louis-Léopold Boilly, and Jacques-Charles Oudry, that illustrate the humorous and intellectual nature of these pictures. Curated by Stephan Wolohojian, Landon and Lavinia Clay Curator, and Head, Division of European and American Art, Harvard Art Museums.