Trompe L' oeil

From The School of Applied Arts

A viniard mural before the Trompe L' oeil effect is added

The same mural with a Trompe L' oeil stone arch painted around it

Once the mural is installed it compleats the illusion

This replication of an architechtural trompe l' oeil from the Vatican in Rome is an example of creating a three dimensional illusion with paint

This is an example of the same architectural trompe l' oeil technique applied to a contemporary composition

Trompe L'oeil is a french word meaning "to fool the eye" the first accounted use of painting techniques that fooled human perception are speculated to have originated around 300 BCE in the scenic painting of the Greek theater. The earliest know story of this type of painting making an appearance in history is the story of Zeuxis and Parrhasius ("ZOYK-sis" and "par-AS-ius") whereas they were both publicly displaying their talents Zeuxis showed his painting of grapes to be so realistic that the birds themselves were attempting to pick them from the painting. After pointing this out he asked Parrhasius to pull the curtain from his work to show how goo it was only to find that the curtain he so thought was hiding a painting was the painting itself. Admitting his defeat he said that he had fooled the birds but Parrhasius had fooled him.

Durring the time of the Greak theater we can only speculate that such techniques were used in the development of scenic painting. Most likely painters exicuted entire sets that appeared to be replications of dwellings at that time which would include tromp l'oeil renderings of columns, capitals, stone carvings of Acanthus leaves and other architectural features. It is safe to say that the Trompe L'oeil techniques of painting architectural features originated hear and then spread throughout history.