German school (XVIII-XIX) - Trompe l'oeil with documents, engravings and still life

German school (XVIII-XIX) - Trompe l'oeil with documents, engravings and still life.

38 x 53 cm (without frame) - 41.5 x 56.5 cm (with frame).

Tempera on paper, in a gilt wood frame.

A German-speaking painter active around the turn of the 19th century. The work belongs to the trompe l'oeil letter-rack tradition, a compositional genre with deep roots in Northern European painting, in which cards, prints, documents and printed ephemera are arranged in simulated disorder against a painted wooden background. The illusionistic rendering is precise and carefully observed: a French Revolutionary assignat, an Austrian genealogical almanac, figural engravings, a landscape with a bridge, a gentleman's portrait and a small still life with a cat, fruit and vegetables are all depicted with controlled naturalism. The German and French texts visible on the cards point to a cultivated Central European milieu, most plausibly locatable in the Austro-German sphere between the late 18th and the early 19th century.

Condition report: Good state of conservation of the painted surface, with signs of ageing and wear.


This item is sold with a certificate of authenticity with legal validity.
- Further informations on the condition report are available upon request.
- All shipments are handled with professional packaging. The frame, if present, is to be understood as a gift and therefore its structural integrity during transport is not guaranteed.

Note for non-Italian buyers: This work has not yet obtained the certificate of free export from Italy, is-sued by the Superintendency of Cultural Heritage, which certifies that the work does not belong to the Italian cultural heritage and may therefore be freely exported. The regulations in force from 2026 pro-vide for reduced processing times for works with a declared value below €50,000, at the discretion of the expert committee: typically 2-3 weeks from the submission of the request. All costs related to this procedure are included in the price.

Rendering Disclaimer: Lifestyle images are AI-generated for illustrative purposes only and may not ac-curately reflect the actual proportions of the work.