Trompe l'oeil with a bust of Venus

Caesar van Everdingen's Trompe l'oeil with a bust of Venus depicts a white marble bust in profile to the right, adorned with a leafy garland that coils around the hair and a pink drapery slipping over the shoulder. In the foreground, a second broken head rests on a ledge, while a dark neutral background and a vertical wooden panel on the left establish spatial recession. The painter uses meticulous light and shadow to render smooth marble, fabric, and foliage, with a restrained palette of ivory, pink, and green characteristic of 17th-century Dutch illusionistic still life.