[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]

ALFORD, E. A. [active 1890s]

The Daily Inter-Ocean

oil on canvas / 18 inches by 22 inches

ca1892

Trompe L’Oeil is a genre in art which attempt to replicate reality; it means “to fool the eye”. Examples can be found from the Renaissance to the present, but this particular example depicts a copy of the Chicago Daily Inter-Ocean for December 1st, 1892, wrapped around red roses. The artist E. A. Alford is unknown and thus far has defied identification through standard on-line sources.

The front page found at newspapers.com for that date is the morning edition and differs somewhat from the page illustrated here. though the price is still Two Cents.