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One Dollar Silver Certificate
Victor Dubreuil (American, born France, 1842–after 1910)
1898–1900
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 22.9 × 30.5 cm (9 × 12 in.)
- Culture
- New York
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of the Americas
- Credit line
- Through prior acquisition of the Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Having worked as a bank clerk in Paris, Victor Dubreuil moved to the United States in 1882, possibly to escape charges that he had stolen money from his employer. In New York he established himself as an artist, specializing in ultra-illusionistic depictions of currency: some elaborate in composition while others more restrained, such as One Dollar Silver Certificate. In the late 19th century, counterfeiting of legal tender was a widespread problem. Trompe l’oeil replications—albeit on canvas or board rather than paper—aroused suspicion among government officials. At least two of Dubreuil’s paintings on public view were confiscated by the Secret Service in the 1890s.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
