Pronounced ‘tromp loy’. A French term meaning ‘fool the eye’. A technique usually found in still life paintings. It involves the artist rendering a subject with such detail and attention to lighting and perspective that the finished piece appears to be real and three-dimensional. The art of trompe l’oeil began during the Renaissance and with [...]
Pronounced ‘tromp loy’. A French term meaning ‘fool the eye’. A technique usually found in still life paintings. It involves the artist rendering a subject with such detail and attention to lighting and perspective that the finished piece appears to be real and three-dimensional. The art of trompe l’oeil began during the Renaissance and with advances in linear perspective in the 15th-century and in the science of optics in the 17th-century, artists have further developed the technique. One of the most stunning examples of the technique is the fresco painting on the ceiling of the Church of Saint Ignazio in Rome, created by Andrea Pozzo in the period 1691-1694. A semi-circular ceiling is transformed into a fantastic picture of the heavens, in which Saint Ignatius ascends to Paradise.