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ITALIAN SCHOOL, 17TH CENTURY The Contest of Parrhasius and Zeuxis.
Pen and reddish brown ink and brown wash on cream laid paper. 143x197 mm; 5 1/2x7 3/4 inches. Titled in Latin in ink, upper left recto.
Provenance: Private collection, Massachusetts.
Pliny the Elder described Parrhasius's contest with Zeuxis in his book Naturalis Historia. The latter painted some grapes so perfectly that a flock of birds flew down to eat them but, instead, only pecked at the picture. Zeuxis had fooled the birds with his picture. Parrhasius and Zeuxis walked to Parrhasius's studio whereupon Parrhasius asked Zeuxis to draw aside the curtain and witness his own masterpiece. When Zeuxis attempted to do so, he realized that the curtain was not a curtain, but a painting of a curtain. Zeuxis acknowledged himself to be surpassed, for while Zeuxis had deceived the birds, Parrhasius had deceived Zeuxis. This story from antiquity illustrates one of the earliest examples of the idea of trompe-l'œil.
