The Curtain You Can’t Pull Back

Two painters make a covering into the very picture we want to uncover. CHAPTERS 0:00 The Curtain You Want to Move 0:44 Why Valuable Paintings Had Curtains 1:16 One Panel, Several Apparent Layers 1:38 The Little Fittings That Make It Hang 2:15 Creases With a Memory 3:00 How Blue Paint Suggests Silk 3:45 A Much Older Painted Curtain 4:46 The Covering Becomes the Picture SOURCES Art Institute: Trompe-l’Oeil Still Life with a Flower Garland and a Curtain https://www.artic.edu/artworks/66042/trompe-l-oeil-still-life-with-a-flower-garland-and-a-curtain Art Institute: The Fictitious Fabric of Frans van Mieris https://www.artic.edu/articles/929/the-fictitious-fabric-of-frans-van-mieris AIC image licensing https://www.artic.edu/image-licensing Art Institute Museum Studies 33(1), The Silk Road and Beyond, p.64 https://www.artic.edu/files/bc0425b8-1940-46df-b450-470950d1b4ee/AIC_MuseumStudies_33-1_UPDF.pdf IMAGE CREDITS Adriaen van der Spelt and Frans van Mieris, 1658. Art Institute of Chicago, 1949.585. CC0. Original script and explanatory guides by The Art Detail. Authentic registered reproductions; guides are labelled. Licensed synthetic narration: Andrew Dragon HD Latest. The Art Detail · Small details. Remarkable stories.