Born in Germany of American parents, Charles Meurer became the last living link to the heyday of the trompe l'oeil painting style. He settled in Terrace Park, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, and maintained a studio there for many years. He continued to paint after both of his legs were amputated, asserting that he still had his brushes and his spirit. Many of his trompe l'oeil works have reproductions of money, and he has also done painting with hunting motifs that are similar to work by Michael Harnett, the man credited with founding the trompe l'oeil style in America.

Meurer was raised in Clarksville, Tennessee. In his youth as a beginning artist, he was commissioned by Adolph Ochs, editor of the Chattanooga Times newspaper to paint ...