Collections Database

Description:
still life; food; reading/reading material

Label Text:
In his painting, the artist used a technique called trompe l’oeil, French for “trick the eye”. Trompe l’oeil paintings cause the viewer to perceive a painted object as a three-dimensional reality, rather than the two-dimensional image it truly is. Paintings like this were popular in 19th-century America, and were enjoyed for their entertainment value. In Try One, the canvas is painted to resemble a wooden board, with a broken piece of glass from which almonds have fallen. The artist has even painted a note, which reads “Try One. S.S. David”. S.S. David was an alias for De Scott Evans, a painter mostly known in his day for academic paintings and portraits. Trompe l’oeil was considered low-brow by some critics, so Evans disguised his true identity on many of his trompe l’oeil paintings.

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1991.41

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