Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts

Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts (1625/1629 – after 1675), was a Flemish painter who was active in the Spanish Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden in the second half of the seventeenth century. He was a court painter to the Danish royal family. He specialised in trompe-l'œil still lifes, an artistic genre which uses visual tricks to give viewers the illusion that they are not looking at a painting but rather at real three-dimensional objects. He also created many vanitas still lifes.

Life Details about the life of Gijsbrechts are scarce. It is not known with certainty where and when he was born. His activities in the final years of his life are also undocumented. His name is not mentioned in the contemporary art historical literature. It is assumed that he was born sometime between 1625 and 1629 in Antwerp. He married Anna Moons on 26 April 1648 in the St. James' Church in Antwerp. Their eldest son Franciscus was baptised in the same church on 25 February 1649. Most of the 22 paintings Gijsbrechts painted in Copenhagen were for the King's Perspective Chamber which was part of the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities. The Perspective Chamber displayed a selection of trompe l’oeil works, perspective boxes and architectural paintings made from the central perspective. Art historian Eva de la Fuente sees in the Perspective Chamber a symbolic representation of a "worldview with the autocratic king at the centre. He is the one who dominates and understands the hidden context of things in the world. Dressed in appropriate martial virtues, he appears as a collector of the marvellous creations of art and nature".

In 1675 he is recorded in Breslau (Wrocław).

It is not known when or where he died. It is generally believed that the father's style is more Baroque and his brushwork softer and more fluid than that of his son.

Vanitas His earliest known painting is the Vanitas still life with a young Moor presenting a pocket watch (at Ader (Paris) 9 April 1990, lot 61) which is dated 1657. This painting falls within the genre of the vanitas still life, which Gijsbrechts practised principally until the later 1660s. The worldview behind the vanitas paintings was a Christian understanding of the world as a temporary place of fleeting joys and sorrows from which humanity could only escape through the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ.

This worldview is conveyed in these still lifes through the use of stock symbols that refer to the transience of things and, in particular, the futility of earthly wealth: a skull, soap bubbles, candles, empty glasses, wilting flowers, insects, smoke, clocks, mirrors, books, hourglasses and musical instruments, various expensive or exclusive objects such as jewellery and rare shells and globes. While most of these symbols refer to earthly existence (books, scientific instruments, etc.) and pleasures (a pipe) or the transience of life and death (skulls, soap bubbles, empty shells), some of the symbols used in the vanitas paintings carry a double meaning: a rose or a stalk of grain refers as much to the brevity of life as it is a symbol of Christ's resurrection, and thus eternal life.

In Trompe l'oeil with studio wall and vanitas still life (1668, Statens Museum for Kunst) Gijsbrechts presents a virtual inventory of seventeenth-century symbols of transience: the skull with the ears of corn, the hourglass, the extinguished candle, the soap bubble and artist paraphernalia. It contains two miniature portraits and one empty slot for another. The top left portrait is of Emperor Leopold I. The other portrait is not a self-portrait and it is not clear who it represents. The portraits allude to the mortality the deceased, even while glorifying him, within a spiritual and traditional vanitas iconography. The painting also includes the painter's "calling card" in the form of a note bearing the words "A Monsuer / Monsuer Cornelius Norbertus / Gijsbrechts Conterfeÿer ggl. In. / Coppenhagen." By painting the upper right corner of the canvas as if it had become detached from its support, he points to the fact that even the canvas of the painting (and thus the fame of the painter) cannot withstand the relentless progression of time and its destructive force. In this way, the artist fused his trompe l'oeil technique with the vanitas subject.

His painting The Reverse of a Framed Painting (1670, Statens Museum for Kunst) is one of his most original contributions to the trompe-l'œil genre. It is a deceptively sculptural representation of the back of a canvas frame with the small nails fixing the canvas in the frame and a small slip of paper with an inventory number. The painting itself is unframed. The painting was displayed leaning against a wall in the entrance hall to the Royal Danish Kunstkammer thus increasing its illusionistic impact. Today, the painting is exhibited standing on the floor against the wall thus creating the idea that the painting is waiting to be hung up.

Another original trompe-l'œil is the Cabinet of curiosities with an ivory tankard (1670, Statens Museum for Kunst). This painting was in reality a cabinet door which was probably created to fit into a panel or wall in the Green Cabinet at Rosenborg Castle. The Green Cabinet held Frederik III's rich collection of art objects. The painting looks like a glass door with a metal rack in front of the glass. All kinds of objects are pinned behind the rack such as letters, newspaper advertisements, a quill pen and a pocket knife. Behind the painted glass an ivory tankard, a statue and other treasures are visible. The door has real hinges and a key hole with a key and could in fact be opened. Once opened, the objects depicted in the painting would become visible in real life. The ivory vase and possibly the statuette as well were created by German artist and ivory sculptor Joachim Henne who was also a court artist.

In a pair of paintings in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Gijsbrecht demonstrated his inventiveness by combining in a novel way his trompe l'oeil techniques with the vanitas subjects for which he was known. The first one called the Trompe l'Oeil with trumpet, celestial globe and proclamation by Frederik III and dated 1670, shows the proclamation of the late King Frederik III spread out on a carpet, with a trumpet lying across the sheet. A celestial globe with the constellations and signs of the zodiac symbolises the world and an open drawer reveals its exotic riches. But there is also a flip side to this celebration of the king and his reign. All the objects are thrown about in disarray - as if cupboards had just been emptied and a clearing out of the late king's treasuries is underway.

The accompanying painting referred to as A cabinet in the artist's studio shows the painter's studio. A large tablecloth, known to have belonged to Frederik III, hangs over some of the painter's tools - a bundle of brushes, his palette knife, his painting stick and his Dutch pipe. On the left, three pictures in the painting each tell a story. Tilted against the wall on a shelf, a still life with flowers and fruit hints at the transience of all things in this world. A self-portrait of the artist stares at the viewer with intense, shining eyes, making the painter an observer of it all. Below, an elderly man places his hand on the shoulder of a housewife as she lights a pipe - a symbol of life passing like smoke. To the left, the third image is a seascape at sunset, symbolising the evening of life. On the beach, a scene with three tiny figures takes place, with a boat on dry land signifying the boat of existence coming to a halt.