book_icons | Trompe-l'œil

Trompe-l'œil (French for "trick the eye" from tromper - to deceive and l'œil -
the eye; pronounced as "trom ploy") is an art technique involving extremely
realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist. (Read more at Wiki: trompe-l'œil )

It's also a painting technique used in still lives (works of art depicting compositions
of inanimate objects).

Now, that's not necessarily what I would put up on the wall in my living room,
but I think it's a genre that makes for very nice icons.

Here's a batch of 44 showing still lives by the American artist William Harnett (1848-1892).
He presents common household objects, mainly books (which is why I hope
that it's appropriate to post this here!), but also pitchers, fruits, pipes,
and traditional elements of still lives such as candles and skulls.
Large versions of the pictures can be found at the Art Renewal Center, here.

I hope you like them!

If you take any, please leave a comment and tell me which ones you picked up
and why. Please credit the original artist (William Harnett).
Credit for me is optional and of course you can customize any of these icons
any way you want.