Three Surprising Ways that Painters Have Used Illusionism in Their Art

Introducing the techniques of cartellino, musca depicta & trompe-l’œil

Detail of ‘Madonna and Child’ (c.1480) by Carlo Crivelli. Tempera and gold on wood. 36.5 × 23.5 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, U.S. Image source The Met

Artists didn’t always sign their work, but during the early years of the Renaissance this changed. Artists began to be sought after by name. Reputations were valued. And so artists’ signatures became an all-important feature of paintings.

Unsurprisingly, artists seized this opportunity to showcase their ingenuity, resulting in the development of various innovative techniques to incorporate their names into their works. One of these ways involved what art historians call cartellini.

A cartellino is a piece of paper or parchment painted illusionistically (cartellino is the singular of cartellini). Through the use of shadow and light-play, the piece of paper could look as though it was physically affixed onto the picture canvas or attached to a wall in a painting.

The Martyrdom of Saint Serapion (1628) by Francisco de Zurbarán. Oil on canvas. 120 × 103 cm. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. Image source Wikimedia Commons

Take this painting, of The Martyrdom of Saint Serapion, by the Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbarán, made in 1628.