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Notes

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This painting is meant to deceive viewers into thinking that they are looking at a real letter rack, stuffed with real documents and books. It is a 'trompe l’oeil' painting, designed to 'fool the eye'. Among the documents are death notices for Hennery Hagger. The painting is also a 'vanitas', a reminder of the fragility of life and of the inevitability of death.

This painting is at home among the Dutch and Flemish paintings at Dyrham Park, but it was not purchased by William Blathwayt I or his successors. It was bequeathed to the National Trust by the art historian and antiquarian Dame Joan Evans (1893–1977).