Jean Francois de la Motte
1635 – 1685
A Trompe l’Oeil Still Life with Painter’s Tools and Props including a Palette, Mahlstick, Paint Brushes, Watch, Horn, Candlestick, an Hour Glass and other Objects
Medium:
Oil on Canvas
Category:
Dimensions:
65(h) x 70(w) cms
Framed Dimensions:
72.5(h) x 76.5(w) cms
Signed:
signed in the lower left corner of the illusory 'canvas': JF Motte
Essay:
Jean-Francois De la Motte was born in Tournai in the Southern Netherlands near the border with France in 1635. Little seems to be known about the early career of De la Motte, but a trompe l'oeil painting by the artist does give his address as "peintre demeurant sur la paroisse Saint Piat a Tournai".
De la Motte must have been working in Antwerp as he was elected a member of the Guild of St. Luke in 1653. From 1659 - 1677 he is well recorded as working on painting commissions for decorative work and in 1670 he collaborated with A. Berlaimont on ornamental decorations for the second Triumphal entrance of Louis XIV into Tournai.
In his Vanitas pictures the influence of Dutch paintings of contemporary artists is evident, especially those of the Leiden School. Letters, sealing wax, scissors, quills and prints all appear with regularity in his compositions. In the prints he includes in his compositions he often represented the work of David Teniers and Andries Both. His last signed and dated picture is in the Museum at Strasbourg and is dated 1685.
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This early Flemish trompe l'oeil is a rare, signed example of the work of Jean Francois De la Motte. His oeuvre consists of only around a dozen paintings.
De la Motte has painted the word 'COGIT' at the top of the picture (meaning he/she/it thinks in Latin) an elegant and concise title as well as an instruction for the viewer. Reality becomes confused and the viewer is forced to ponder exactly what has been represented to keep up with de la Motte's unstitching of the boundaries of perception.
The still life painted within a painting of an artist's studio was a design employed by de la Motte in several other works in his small oeuvre. In a similar painting in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon (ref. CA 692) 'COGIT' is followed by the letters MO before the canvas fold cuts the word off. This reveals the second theme of the painting, that of the Momento Mori (de la Motte likely means the title to read COGIT MORI / 'think of death'). Various objects in the present picture point towards the momento mori theme - snuffed candle, hourglass, watch, bubbles, and a horn. Meanwhile, a mahlstick crosses the composition and rests on a nail, presumably about to be picked up and used to hold the drooping flap of canvas in place.
A letter behind the illusory canvas stretcher is addressed to a 'Sir Nicolas', perhaps de la Motte's patron.
This picture is presented in a modern frame made to parody the stretcher painted within.
Provenance:
Private Collection, France