Time and Eternity is an exquisitely painted and extremely detailed trompe-l'oeil still life designed to trick the eye into thinking that these are real, not painted, objects. The illusion is aided by the shallow spatial format and by the absolute clarity and precision with which the objects are painted. The extreme detail and realism made trompe-l'oeils hugely popular with the public, but late nineteenth-century art critics derided such works as mere parlor tricks which lacked art.