Introduction

Trompe-l’oeil paintings have a special and intriguing place in the oeuvre of Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678). These illusionistic works include a series of letter racks which he painted over much of his active life. They are still lifes that realistically depict relatively flat objects in life-size and inserted behind leather straps. About half of the letter racks can be characterized as personal in nature. This subcategory is identified by objects that belonged to Van Hoogstraten himself or that allude to his person. In this contribution it shall be argued that these pictures could very well have been tributes with a tailored message to specific recipients.

The gold medal [Fig. 37] has pride of place among the several personal objects. It is at times depicted with the concomitant chain that Van Hoogstraten also received from Emperor Ferdinand III, and invariably adorned by a fancy bow. In addition, these pictures include images of Van Hoogstraten's own literary works (the manuscript for Den eerlyken jongeling and printed copies of De Roomsche Paulina and Dieryk en Dorothé), of his name written on documents, of laudatory poems, and of addressed letters. Other objects, such as a razor inlaid with tortoiseshell, a cameo and a magnifying glass, probably also belonged to Van Hoogstraten's personal paraphernalia, as they recur in several of the letter racks, whereas all of the latter also feature more ordinary items as recurring elements, including a pair of scissors, a goose feather and combs. A chart best illustrates the consistency of the choice of objects in the various works (see Table 1).

Van Hoogstraten painted other letter racks, but none of the depicted objects in those works can be said with certainty to belong to his personal effects.