Art and Illusions: masterpieces of trompe l’oeil from antiquity to the present day - The Independent, London

Every work of art contains a calculated element of deception. But the art of trompe l’oeil pushes deception to new extremes. It is flagrant, almost hubristic, in its wish to deceive, like some conjuror whose final hand is a risky act of sheer bravura at which he simply cannot afford to fail. Trompe l’oeil, in short, is optical illusionism overlarded with attention-grabbing special effects.

This big show, staged in a sixteenth century palazzo in Florence, tells the story of trompe l’oeil down the centuries, from the Roman times to our own day. It is a stagily staged show about an art of pure staginess. As we pass from gallery to gallery - these are often false galleries set within larger galleries - we find ourselves twisting, turning about, doubling back on ourselves, wondering whether at some point we will meet ourselves, perplexed, coming back. The gallery entrances are often tricked out to resemble picture frames. One long corridor looks like the three-dimensional re-enactment of a particularly effective piece of trompe l’oeil. Many of the paintings hang in recessed spaces, as if the framed object is being framed by the gallery itself.

The works themselves – the greater part of them are paintings, but there are also books, medical specimens, sculptures, fabrics, decorative wall tiles and much else – are often quite small, and very often they look smaller still because of their fussy attention to detail. What is more, the paintings often show us objects which are comfortably familiar, relatively unchallenging in their predictability. A game bird hanging from a hook. A vase of begonias. There are too many game birds reeking, upside down, in this show. We get a little tired of seeing them. There are also works in this show which should not have been here at all – these medical specimens from the 18^th century, for example. What have they to do with trompe l’oeil?

The show’s most interesting works are by Americans, and especially the paintings of a little known artist called Otis Kaye, who died in 1974. The subject matter of Kaye’s works is American money, the greenback, pinned to a board, hanging by a thread, tangible enough to be snatched at. Given the illusory nature of money, and what an act of deception it often proves to be, it is perhaps not at all surprising that trompe l’oeil should be employed to show it off at its slippery best. So real. So trickily unreal.

Art and Illusions: masterpieces of trompe l’oeil from antiquity from antiquity to the present day Palazzo Strozzi, Florence until 24 January 2010