From the website of the National Gallery
The National Gallery celebrated the art of deception in the exhibition Painted illusions: the art of Cornelius Gijsbrechts. For the first time, a celebrated group of paintings by this remarkable artist – normally exhibited in the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen – were seen in London.
The name of Cornelius Gijsbrechts is an unfamiliar one for many visitors to the National Gallery and yet he was one of the most important painters of illusionistic (‘trompe l’oeil’) pictures in European art. He is a mysterious figure, about whose life little is known. Probably born in Antwerp in the earlier part of the 17th century, he came to prominence for a brief four-year spell in 1668–72 when he moved to Copenhagen. There he was enthusiastically taken up by the Danish court, working for two kings of Denmark: Frederik III and Christian V. Both kings were fascinated by artistic trickery and formed an extraordinary collection of ‘trompe-l’oeil’ paintings, peepshows, anamorphoses and other illusionistic works by many different artists. Frederik III and, after his death in 1670, Christian V built a royal art gallery, or ‘kunstkammer’, and one room of it (the ‘perspektivkammer’) was devoted to such images.
From the museum website, 7 February 2009
Cornelius Nobertus Gijsbrechts er en af sin tids betydeligste stilleben- og trompe l´oeil-malere. Han stammede fra Antwerpen, men er bedst kendt fra de 5 år omkring 1670, hvor han virkede i København, som hofmaler for Frederik III og Christian V. Statens Museum for Kunst ejer en i omfang, og kvalitet, helt enestående samling af hans arbejder. Samlingen, der aldrig tidligere er blevet vist i sin helhed, vil udgøre kernen i udstillingen og blive suppleret med en lang række værker fra museer og samlinger i Europa og USA. En del af udstillingen vil i begyndelsen af 2000 blive vist på National Gallery i London.
Publication
Illusions: Gijsbrechts, royal master of deception
Olaf Koester, with contributions by Celeste Brusati, Jorgen Hein, Günter Herzog, Ekkehard Mai, Mette Bjarnhof and Lone Bogh
Catalogue of an exhibition held in 1999 in Copenhagen (Statens Museum) and in 2000 in London (National Gallery)
319 pp.
Copenhagen (Statens Museum for Kunst) 1999
ISBN 87-90096-30-4 (Danish edition, softbound)
ISBN 87-90096-32-0 (English edition, softbound)