Trompe-l'œil

Trompe-l'œil, which can also be spelled without the hyphen in English, [For example by the [http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2002/slideshow/slide-176-1.shtm National Gallery of Art, Washington] ] ] (French: "trick the eye", IPA2|tʁɔ̃p lœj) is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects appear in three-dimensions, instead of actually being a two-dimensional painting.

History in painting

Although the phrase has its origin in the Baroque period, when it refers to perspectival illusionism, use of trompe-l'œil dates back much further. It was (and is) often employed in murals. Instances from Greek and Roman times are known, for instance in Pompeii. A typical trompe-l'œil mural might depict a window, door, or hallway, intended to suggest a larger room.

A version of an oft-told ancient Greek story concerns a contest between two renowned painters. Zeuxis produced a still life painting so convincing, that birds flew down from the sky to peck at the painted grapes. He was then asked by his rival, Parrhasius, to pull back a pair of very tattered curtains in order to see the painting behind them. Parrhasius won the contest, as his painting was the curtains themselves.

With the superior understanding of perspective drawing achieved in the Renaissance, Italian painters of the late Quattrocento such as Andrea Mantegna and Melozzo da Forlì began painting illusionistic ceiling paintings, generally in fresco, that employed perspective and techniques such as foreshortening in order to give the impression of greater space to the viewer below. This type of trompe l'œil 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 "Assumption of the Virgin" in the Duomo of Parma.

Similarly, Vittorio Carpaccio and Jacopo de' Barbari, added small trompe-l'œil features to their paintings, playfully exploring the boundary between image and reality. For example, a 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 Zeuxis and Parrhasius.

Perspective theories in the 17th-century allowed a more fully integrated approach to architectural illusion, which when used by painters to "open up" the space of a wall or ceiling is known as "quadratura". Examples include Pietro da Cortona's Allegory of Divine Providence in the Palazzo Barberini and Andrea Pozzo's "Apotheosis of St Ignatius" [4] on the ceiling of the Roman church of [http://www.wga.hu/html/p/pozzo/apotheos.html Sant'Ignazio] . A fanciful form of architectural Trompe-l'œil is known as quodlibet which features realistically rendered paintings of such items as paper-knives, playing-cards, ribbons and scissors, apparently accidentally left lying around, painted on walls.cite book | last = Curl | first = James Stevens | title = A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture | origdate = 2006| format = Paperback | edition = Second | publisher = Oxford University Press | language = English | id = ISBN 0198606788 | pages = 880 pages]

Trompe-l'œil can also be found painted on tables and other items of furniture, on which, for example, a deck of playing cards might appear to be sitting on the table. A particularly impressive example can be seen at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, where one of the internal doors appears to have a violin and bow suspended from it, in a trompe l'œil painted around 1723 by Jan van der Vaart [http://www.chatsworth.org/learning/photolibrary_images.htm] .The American 19th century still-life painter William Harnett specialized in trompe-l'œil. In the 20th century, from the 1960s on, the American Richard Haas and many others painted large trompe-l'œil murals on the sides of city buildings, and trompe-l'œil became increasingly popular for interior murals.

In other artforms

Trompe-l'œil is employed in Donald O'Connor's famous "Running up the wall" scene in the film "Singin' in the Rain". During the finale of his "Make 'em Laugh" number he first runs up a real wall. Then he runs towards what appears to be a hallway, but when he runs up this as well we realize that it is a large trompe-l'œil mural.

Another variant of trompe-l'œil is matte painting, a technique used in filmmaking where parts of a complicated scenery are painted on glass panels which are mounted in front of the camera during shooting of the scene. This was for instance used in early Star Wars movies.

Fictional trompe-l'œil is featured in many Looney Tunes, such as the Road Runner cartoons, where, for example, Wile E. Coyote paints a tunnel on a rock wall, and the Road runner then races through the fake tunnel. This is usually followed by the coyote's foolishly trying to run through the tunnel after the road runner, only to smash into the hard rock-face. This sight gag was employed in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".

On Chicago’s Near North Side, a 16-story 1929 apartment hotel converted into a 1981 apartment building, was used by Richard Haas for trompe-l'œil murals in homage to Chicago School architecture. One of the building's sides features the Chicago Board of Trade Building, intended as a reflection of the actual building two miles south. [cite web|author=|url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/288.html|publisher=Chicago Historical Society|title=The City as Artifact|date=|accessdate = 2007-08-05] [cite web|author=|url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/3766.html|publisher=Chicago Historical Society|title=Mural, "Homage to the Chicago School", by Richard Haas, 1980|date=|accessdate = 2007-08-05] [cite web|author=Isaacs,Deanna|url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/thebusiness/061103/|publisher=Chicago Reader|title=The Case of the Missing Maquettes|date=2006-11-03|accessdate = 2007-08-05]

Today, Joanne Gair is a leader of this genre as a body painting specialist. Her paintings were featured for the tenth consecutive year in the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.cite web|url=http://www.examiner.com/p-114035~Supermodel_Marisa_Miller_Adorns_the_Cover_of_the_2008_Sports_Illustrated_Swimsuit_Issue_on_Newsstands_Today_.html|title=Supermodel Marisa Miller Adorns the Cover of the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue on Newsstands Today!|accessdate=2008-02-18|date=2008-02-12|work=examiner.com] She gained iconic status with a "Vanity Fair" cover of Demi Moore in 1992. [cite web|url=http://www.photoimpactonline.com/gair.htm|title=Make-Up ILLUSION by Joanne Gair|accessdate=2008-02-18] cite web|url=http://www.makeupbooks.com/bopamabyjoga.html|title=Body Painting: Masterpieces by Joanne Gair|accessdate=2008-02-18|work=makeupbooks.com]

Trivia

George Washington was once fooled by a trompe-l'œil painting when he visited the studio of Charles Willson Peale. Upon entering a room containing on its far wall such a painting of someone descending a stair (apparently into the room), he is said to have bowed to the figure before he realized it was a painting. The painting, "Staircase Group" showed two of Peale's sons.Fact|date=August 2007

Examples of trompe-l'œil paintings

Examples of trompe-l'œil murals

Trompe-l'œil artists

Old Masters
* Masaccio
* Luca Giordano
* Andrea Pozzo
* Charles Willson Peale
* Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

19th century and modern masters

* Henry Alexander
* John Haberle
* William Harnett
* Salvador Dalí
* René Magritte
* John F. Peto
* Walter Goodman

Contemporary

* Julian Beever who creates trompe-l'œil chalk drawings on pavement
* Henri Cadiou
* Pierre Ducordeau
* Ronald Francis
* Pierre Gilou
* Richard Haas
* Paul Magendie
* István Orosz (Utisz)
* Susan Powers
* Pierre-Marie Rudelle
* Daniel Solnon
* Anthony Waichuliswho creates trompe-l'œil chalk drawings on pavement as well.
* Kurt Wenner
* Claude Yvel
* Jacques Poirier
* Eric Conklin

Usage in films

* "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
* "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"
* "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" (1971)
* "Where the Heart Is" (1990)

Video games

* "Pilotwings"

ee also

* Marbling
* Faux Painting
* Photorealism
* Anamorphosis
* Optical illusion

Notes

External links

* [http://www.museedutrompeloeil.com/ Trompe-l'Oeil museum in France]
* [http://www.trompeloeilfestival.com International Trompe l'Oeil Festival of Lodi - Italy]
* [http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2002/slideshow/slide-176-1.shtm Deceptions and Illusions] , National Gallery of Art exhibition on Trompe-l'œil paintings
* [http://www.uh.edu/~englmi/BorgesBaroqueIllusionism/ Trompe l'œil Tricks: Borges' Baroque Illusionism] , essay by Lois Parkinson Zamora comparing trompe-l'œil to the literature of Borges
* [http://murals.trompe-l-oeil.info murals.trompe-l-oeil.info] , More than 10 000 pictures and 1200 Outdoor murals of France and Europe
* [http://www.patricias-palette.com/history.html Discover the art of trompe] , A short history of trompe l'oeil painting including a list of links.
* Monkey in a Fire Place by [http://www.no1no1street.co.uk/ Andrew Regan] A good example of trompe l'oeil.
* [http://sma.nebo.edu/swap/pkt/foolingtheeye/history.html Fooling the eye] Fooling The Eye: A history of trompe l'oeil.
* [http://magart.rochester.edu/Obj3889$9472 The Printseller] by Walter Goodman
* [http://www.richardhaas.com/ Richard Haas] - American muralist
* [http://www.peinturemurale.com/ Trompe-l'oeil, murals and anamorphosis, site with over five hundred photos]
* [http://archeologue.over-blog.com/article-6969508.html Paris trompe-l'oeil] , avenue George V. Text and photos by Catherine-Alice Palagret
* [http://www.saintjohn.nbcc.nb.ca/heritage/PaintedLadies/index.htm Painted Ladies ] , Canada's largest surviving concentration of this art style
* [http://www.decorinterni.it photo gallery about TROMPE L'OEIL -italy]