The Smoking urn by Rex Whistler, in the Whistler Room at Mottisfont
The Whistler Room at Mottisfont
Today, I had what I can officially class as an amazing experience of an artist whose talent was truly out of this world, Rex Whistler.
The basics are simple and a story in their own right. He was hired by the wife of the owner of Mottisfont to design a room that would inspire such awe in anyone who entered.
I entered it today, and I was awed beyond words. I have seen many videos on YouTube, where people have employed the techniques of trompe l’oeil
Here’s the internet definition;
Trompe-l’œil is an artistic technique that creates a highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. Trompe-l’œil, which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into perceiving painted objects or spaces as real.
Seeing it on YouTube and experiencing it in person are experiences of a different order.
I walked into the room, and it was quite dark; the blinds were down. But there were objects on the wall, and a giant urn on the far side. We were there for a presentation by one of the staff, who happens to be very enthusiastic about Whistler. His talk was very informative and entertaining. Visually, I fully accepted that I was looking at real objects on or next to the wall.
It wasn’t until he started talking that I realised that everything in the room, the friezes, the urn, was all two-dimensional drawings.
I was stunned. It really is an amazing room that I can in no way do justice to here.
Even after the speaker finished, I had to step closer to the urn to confirm that it was ‘just’ a painting and not a real object, and even at that close distance, whilst I didn’t, it was very tempting to stretch out and touch it.
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