In this video from the Children’s Video Tour, art lovers of all ages can explore William Michael Harnett’s work, “The Old Violin,” one of the artist’s most famous paintings. The best-known and most influential still-life painter in America during the last quarter of the 19th century, Harnett was a master of the trompe-l’oeil style of painting—a French phrase that means “fool the eye.” He painted objects life-size, and used such precise detail, exact colors, and convincing texture, that appearance seems like reality. On view in the West Building, Main Floor, Gallery 69A. http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=79531 ----- Find the Children's Video Tour at http://www.nga.gov/education/timetravel/index.shtm