1897 American Trompe L’oeil Painting of 1891 $5 Silver Certificate, Friedberg-267. Signed Michel Jacobs / 1897. Very Fine, Some Restoration.Oil on canvas, 8x10, within what is probably the original frame, which measures 9 3/8 x 11 3/8 and is held together on the back by metal hardware with an 1885 patent date. Back of canvas is protected by a piece of modern art board screwed to the original stretcher with a plexiglass window, allowing viewing of initials, an old and very faint oval ink stamp, and some restoration work most visible from the back of the canvas. A wonderful example of this genre that was uniquely American when it started in the late 1870s--the realistic, deceptive depiction of paper money as art. This depiction was the ultimate form of conspicuous consumption, portraying and selling money itself, and as such remained uniquely American in its heyday that lasted from Trompe LOeil master William Michael Harnetts 1877 painting of a $5 Woodchopper through the first quarter of the 20th century. No similar European works are known, though about two dozen American painters specialized in this genre, and this paintings creator dabbled in the form. Michel Jacobs was born in Canada in 1877 and studied at the National Academy of Design, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and in Berlin. He served in the U.S. Army during World War 1 as a camouflage expert. After the war he founded the Metropolitan Art School in New York City. While in Los Angeles during 1930-31, he lectured, taught at his studio, and painted portraits. He died in Rumson, NJ in 1958. Jacobs would have been just 20 when he created this work, clearly experimenting in an art form that was very much in vogue at the time. Though a good imitation of the original note from arms length, a close study of the painting reveals that certain details are extremely faint or even absent, such as the 1891 series date, perhaps purposeful obfuscations in order to evade any potentially applicable counterfeiting laws. Here is a fascinating work that combines art, financial history, and numismatics and that would make a fine addition to the walls of an office or study.
