Trompe-l'œil
Trompe-l'œil (French for 'deceive the eye'; /trɒmpˈlɔɪ/ tromp-LOY; French: [tʁɔ̃p lœj] ⓘ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. Trompe l'œil, which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into perceiving painted objects or spaces as real. Forced perspective is a related illusion in architecture.
This article is about the artistic term. For the album by Malajube, see Trompe-l'oeil (album). For the Westworld episode, see Trompe L'Oeil (Westworld). For the mural by Maria Bettina Cogliatti, see Trompe-l'œil (mural).Perspective[edit]
A fascination with perspective drawing arose during the Renaissance. But also Giotto began using perspective at the end of the 13th century with the cycle of Assisi in Saint Francis stories. Many Italian painters of the late Quattrocento, such as Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506) and Melozzo da Forlì (1438–1494), began painting illusionistic ceiling paintings, generally in fresco, that employed perspective and techniques such as foreshortening to create the impression of greater space for the viewer below. This type of trompe l'oeil illusionism as specifically applied to ceiling paintings is known as di sotto in sù, meaning "from below, upward" in Italian. The elements above the viewer are rendered as if viewed from true vanishing point perspective. Well-known examples are the Camera degli Sposi in Mantua and Antonio da Correggio's (1489–1534) Assumption of the Virgin in the Parma Cathedral.
Similarly, Vittorio Carpaccio (1460–1525) and Jacopo de' Barbari (c. 1440 – before 1516) added small trompe l'œil features to their paintings, playfully exploring the boundary between image and reality. For example, a painted fly might appear to be sitting on the painting's frame, or a curtain might appear to partly conceal the painting, a piece of paper might appear to be attached to a board, or a person might appear to be climbing out of the painting altogether—all in reference to the contest of Zeuxis and Parrhasius.
Still-Life with Partridge and Gauntlets by Jacopo de' Barbari, 1504. The first still-life trompe l'œil since antiquity
Trompe-l'oeil, Jean-François de Le Motte, 1680-1700
Trompe l´oeil 1737 by Carl Hofverberg
Trompe l'oeil of a wooden panelling with a painted canvas and print of a landscape capriccio, Jacobus Plasschaert, 1650s
Printed Pages. Trompe l'œil by Nicolaas de Wit, 1740
Char de la Ville (photographed 2006) - the "sculpture" is a flat cutout
Oculus on the ceiling of the Spouses Chamber, castle of San Giorgio in Mantua, Italy, by Andrea Mantegna
A trompe-l'œil of a pigeon on a window sill, façade mural, rue Emile Lepeu in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, France
Architectural wall and ceiling trompe-l'œil, Entrance to the library of Chateau Thal, by Rainer Maria Latzke
Conceptual trompe-l'œil mural at California State University, Chico titled "Academe", featuring Doric columns and crumbling walls, by John Pugh
19th-century marble bust with apparently transparent veil, Bankfield Museum, Halifax, West Yorkshire.
The same bust seen in profile. The effect is consistent from all angles and from close up.
A modern trompe-l'œil mosaic fountain at Brighton, in the form of a carpet thrown over marble steps.
Detail of the forced perspective stage scenery of the Teatro Olimpico, as viewed through the porta reggia of the scaenae frons, Vicenza, northern Italy
The Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London, England, designed by Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor. The paintings by Sir James Thornhill comprise architectural trompes l'œil; for instance, the Corinthian columns look fluted whilst the far wall depicts pilasters and an entablature. In practice none of these elements exist in the third dimension
