Hanging Woodcock

Deeply rooted in the history of art, the trompe l’oeil (literally, “deceive the eye”) tradition enjoyed a renaissance in the United States in the late 19th century. Audiences were drawn to the work of George Cope and a larger circle of Philadelphia artists who achieved wondrous feats of illusionism and tricked the eye with scenes related to the hunt.

In "Hanging Woodcock," Cope’s virtuosic handling of paint is on full display: he manages to convincingly render both the soft feel of downy feathers and the hard, splintery surface of knotted pine planks. The illusion extends to the top and bottom of the canvas, where tiny nailheads penetrate the boards. For urban audiences faced with a proliferating array of shape-shifters and swindlers, trompe l’oeil paintings like this one offered a valuable lesson in the importance of distrusting appearance.