The Irish Question
De Scott Evans, 1880s
This highly realistic still life is an example of a trompe l’oeil painting, French for “fools the eye.” The potatoes seem to come off the canvas, but they also are symbolic, alluding to the great wave of Irish immigrants in the 1800s; while the public had cocerns about their religion and culture, industry saw them as a source of cheap labor.
| Artist | De Scott Evans American, 1847–1898 |
|---|---|
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Size | 30.5 × 25.4 cm (12 × 10 in.) |
| Origin | United States |
| Type | Painting |
| Museum | Art Institute of Chicago · museum page |
| Rights | Public domain (CC0): free to download, print and hang. |
The original is 10 × 12 in. Will it fit your wall? →
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Image, title, dates, medium and the note are the Art Institute of Chicago's own records, released under CC0; nothing on this page is written by us beyond the links.