Imitation

The main focus of this poem is the distinction between what is real and what only seems to be real. The poem's primary symbol for explaining this distinction is the painting style known as trompe l'oeil, which is found on the outsides of houses in many European cities. This style emphasizes the illusion of reality in the artist's work, suppressing artistic style for a nearly photographic effect. In the examples that the poem says are found around Genoa, artists have not only rendered their subjects realistically, but they have placed them in locations where the actual objects depicted might occur. Window shutters are painted outside of windows, and shirts hanging on clothes lines are placed beside walls where clotheslines might actually be hung. In such real-life settings, as opposed to in museums or galleries, the paintings can actually fool viewers into thinking that the items depicted are real...