A trompe l'oeil of the back of a painting with a plaster medallion of Charity, an extensively inscribed label, an inventory number with red wax, and a spider

Describing every inch of a painting’s reverse, this fascinating still-life, along with its pendant lot 22, were the first works by the artist Hiernault (or Yernault) to come to light. Since their appearance at auction thirty years ago, only one other painting–a trompe l’oeil letter board–bearing the artist’s signature has appeared on the art market at an auction in Boston (Grogan & Company, 2 March 2008, lot 566). Although nothing is known of the artist’s life, the varying spellings of the surname suggest that it could have been painted in Northern France, now Belgium, where this was common practice. Moreover, this type of trompe l’oeil, representing the usually unseen reverse of a painting, has its roots in this region. Nearly a century before these works were painted, the Antwerp-based artist Cornelis Gijsbrechts painted The reverse of a framed painting, now in the Statens Museum for Kunst (fig. 1), providing an obvious prototype for Heirnault’s works. It is quite possible that Heirnault knew Gisbrechts’ painting, as the unknown artist similarly depicted inventory numbers on a small slip of paper affixed to the canvases with red wax.

Unlike Gijsbrects’ model, which is relatively void of extraneous details, for this painting and its pendant, Hiernault delightfully chose to include unusual clues that relate additional information. The extensively inscribed label on the painting with a bookplate featuring Noah (lot 22) tells us the story of the painting's imaginary recto, noting that it depicts the creation of the universe and all the animals, as well of that of its mate (lot 22) which represents the Fall of Man and Cain and Abel as one continuous narrative. The label also tells a tale about discovery of these paintings–stating that they were found at the foot of Mount Ararat, deep in the forest, and that the two works may have hung in the lavish galleries of the Seraglio in Constantinople alongside other curiosities including a box of matches used by Abraham to light the fire for the would-be sacrifice of his son Isaac. The label on the painting with a plaster medallion of Charity recounts a seemingly unrelated story of a sultana taken to the Seraglio by a guardian appointed by Mohammed. The bookplate, featuring Noah and Hebrew letters, relates to the story of Creation purportedly featured on the painting’s recto. It remains unclear, however, how the medallion of Charity fits into this puzzling group of symbols.