Information
The exhibition was prolonged until 14 September (originally scheduled to close on 31 August).
Curator
From the museum website
Deception is generally frowned upon, but Jacob de Wit (1695-1754) made an art of it. He painted no fewer than thirteen trompe lāoeil statues in the Council Chamber, making oil paint look just like stone. The most important work of his career has been preserved in this room. It is a massive 5 x 12-metre painting depicting Moses appointing the seventy elders, dating from 1737. De Wit must have been proud of this assignment, for he surreptitiously inserted two self portraits among the crowds in the painting. In āhisā room at the Palace you can see how painstakingly he worked, progressing from sketch to watercolour and from oil sketch to the sumptuous result: one of the most richly decorated rooms in Amsterdamās Royal Palace.
Catalogue
Eymert-Jan Goossens, Jacob de Wit 1695-1754: een bedrieger in het paleis , Amsterdam (Koninklijk Paleis Amsterdam) 2003.