Dummy Boards and Chimney Boards

Life-sized painted wooden cut-out figures of soldiers, serving maids, children and animals stand in dark corners of some museums and country houses, often creating a disturbingly lifelike impression for the casual viewer. This book disentangles their true origins in seventeenth-century Dutch trompe l'oeil painting and discusses the range of purposes to which they were put. There is a section on the closely related subject of chimney-boards which are panels painted in trompe l'oeil to disguise fireplace openings in the summer months.

Author: Clare Graham
Publisher: Shire
Extra Details: Pictorial Card Covers, 6 x 9 inches tall, Illustrated with B&W photos and artworks throughout.