M.C. Escher, in full Maurits Cornelis Escher, (born June 17, 1898, Leeuwarden, Netherlands—died March 27, 1972, Laren), Dutch graphic artist who is known for his realistic, detailed prints that achieve bizarre optical and conceptual effects.

Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) is one of the world's most famous graphic artists. His art is enjoyed by millions of people all over the world, as can be seen on the many web sites on the internet. He is most famous for his so-called impossible constructions, such as Ascending and Descending, Relativity, his Transformation Prints, such as Metamorphosis I, Metamorphosis II and Metamorphosis III, Sky & Water I or Reptiles.

The paradoxes that have been studied by philosophers and logicians are arguments that lead from plausible premises to impossible conclusions. For example, in the Liar Paradox, the assumption that "This statement is false" is either true or false leads to the conclusion that it is both true and false. Depictions of so-called “impossible objects” in the late works of M.C . Escher are visually paradoxical. There are deep similarities between visual and logico-semantic paradoxes. In the case of the visual paradoxes, knowledge of various means of representing distance enables us to explain how the paradoxical effect is achieved. A novel approach to solving the Liar and other logico-semantic paradoxes consists of coming to understand how the impossibility of their conclusions arises by means analogous to those by which visually impossible objects are produced.

The Dutch artist Maurits C. Escher (1898-1972) was a draftsman, book illustrator, tapestry designer, and muralist, but his primary work was as a printmaker.

William Harnett, in full William Michael Harnett, (born Aug. 10, 1848, Clonakilty, County Cork, Ire.—died Oct. 29, 1892, New York, N.Y., U.S.), American still-life painter who was one of the masters of trompe l’oeil painting in the 19th century.

States that artist William Harnett and John Peto are recognized as masters of trompe l'eoil painting; but for a while, the works of both artists were extremely difficult to distinguish from one another. Details of the discovery of Peto's works, year after his death; Descriptions of recent major exhibitions of both artists' paintings.

Ever since William Michael Harnett's paintings were first exhibited in 1875, audiences have marveled at the artist's extraordinary skill in depicting objects with utter fidelity to reality. Both past and present commentators have told stories of viewers reaching out to touch the paintings in order to determine precisely what they were seeing. But despite the artist's reputation today as one of the masters of American still-life painting, the meanings of his works remain largely a mystery.

Still life wasn't a subject greatly favored by American painters of the 19th century; maybe the pull of nature outside the studio door was just too strong. But among its practitioners, William M. Harnett (1848-1892) was one of the greatest.

John Frederick Peto, (born May 21, 1854, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died November 23, 1907, Island Heights, New Jersey), American still-life painter who, though influenced by the style and subject matter of the better-known trompe l’oeil (“fool-the-eye”) still-life painter William Harnett, developed a distinctive mode of expression.

States that artist William Harnett and John Peto are recognized as masters of trompe l'eoil painting; but for a while, the works of both artists were extremely difficult to distinguish from one another. Details of the discovery of Peto's works, year after his death; Descriptions of recent major exhibitions of both artists' paintings.

John Fredrick Peto is recognized by the art world as an American master of the trompel’oeil or “fool the eye” school of still-life painting. He was born in Philadelphia in 1854, went to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1877 and exhibited there that same year.

The still life painter John Frederick Peto was born in 1854 in Philadelphia. In 1878 he enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he exhibited between 1879 and 1888. There he met and befriended William Michael Harnett, whose trompe l'oeil still lifes exerted a decisive influence on his career. Site contains 10 of his artworks.

Charles Willson Peale, (born April 15, 1741, Queen Anne’s county, Maryland [U.S.]—died February 22, 1827, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), American painter best remembered for his portraits of the leading figures of the American Revolution and as the founder of the first major museum in the United States.

Charles Willson Peale was a prolific portraitist, the creator of the first successful American museum of art and natural history, and the patriarch of an important artistic family in Philadelphia. Peale was one of the most productive painters in early America, having completed at least 771 oil portraits, 297 portrait miniatures, 29 landscape paintings, 11 still-life subjects, and 10 history paintings.1 He also made at least seven mezzotints of his portraits for wider distribution.2 Furthermore, Peale was politically involved in the Revolution and intellectually engaged in the scientific advances of his time—more so, in fact, than any other early American painter.

Sylvia Hyman’s exploration of ordinary objects – recreated in clay – reveals to her captivated audiences a comprehensive selection of clay items that seem uncanningly real. Almost any ceramist attempting to invent new and unexpected trompe l’oeil options will soon discover that Hyman has likely already ventured there. The variety demonstrates a keen mind always in search of yet another subject for fooling the eye.

Sylvia Hyman’s exploration of ordinary objects – recreated in clay – reveals to her captivated audiences a comprehensive selection of clay items that seem uncanningly real. Almost any ceramist attempting to invent new and unexpected trompe l’oeil options will soon discover that Hyman has likely already ventured there. The variety demonstrates a keen mind always in search of yet another subject for fooling the eye.

The article focuses on three rare and important trompe l'oeil paintings depicting currency by artist John Haberle. It is noted that Haberle was acclaimed as a unique artist of 19th-century American still-life paintings because of his technical brilliance in the method of trompe l'oeil and his inclusion of witty pictorial details in his works. Moreover, painting currency was his specialty. Illustrated in this article are paintings that include "What's It Worth?" and "Small Change."

“John Haberle: American Master of Illusion,” at the New Britain Museum of American Art, focuses on the least well-known of a trio of nineteenth-century trompe l’oeil artists. Like his contemporaries William Michael Harnett (1848–92) and John Frederick Peto (1854–1907), Haberle (1856–1933) specialized in a subgenre of still life as stunt verisimilitude. The tradition can be dated back to the legendary Greek painter Zeuxis (fifth century B.C.), who painted grapes so realistically that birds came to peck at them.

John Haberle, with his contemporaries William Harnett and John Peto, was one of the most important trompe l'oeil still-life painters in late nineteenth-century America. Of them, Haberle was specially noted for his style (the microscopic painting of detail) and for his favorite subject (money).