

Meantime, in the Netherlands, the meticulously realistic genre painting of the Dutch Realist School, during the 17th century, gave ample scope for illusionism. Illusionism also spread to the Spanish colony of Naples (then the second biggest city in Europe, after Paris) during the mid -17th century.Īndrea Pozzo’s trompe-l’oeil dome at Sant’Ignazio (1685). Triumph and Apotheosis of St Ignatius ( 1691-4, San Ignazio, Rome) by the great Andrea Pozzo ( 1642-1709), perhaps the greatest of all quadraturisti.Caravaggio‘s Supper at Emmaus ( 1602), in which he tries to project his subjects through the canvas and out into our own space.Famous examples taken from Baroque painting include:

Illusionistic art, especially quadratura and other architectural devices, achieved its apogee during the period of Baroque art. It may appear that a fly had settled on the frame of the painting, or a fake curtain may hide part of the image, or someone may appear to be climbing out of the frame of the painting. The Venetian painters Vittorio Carpaccio ( 1460–1525) and Jacopo de Barbari ( c.1440-1516) were the first Renaissance artists in Venice to add small trompe-l’oeil to their paintings, extravagantly exploring the boundary between image and reality. Image source: by tpholland High Renaissance and Mannerist Trompe l’oeil Masaccio, Holy Trinity, c.1426-1428, fresco, Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy. One of the first instances of illusionistic Christian art from this time was the picture of a cavernous chapel which forms the basis for The Holy Trinity ( 1428) by Masaccio. This occurred during the Early Renaissance in Italy. Not surprisingly, therefore, artists only began to excel at this form of illusionism once they had mastered the application of linear perspective and were able to create true-to-life paintings. The more realistic the painting, the more deceptive the Trompe l’oeil. Cimabue then went berserk trying to brush away the fly, before he realized it was an illusion. So when the latter’s back was turned Giotto painted a tiny fly onto the mural which his master was painting. One day, Giotto decided to play a trick on the older artist Cimabue (1240-1302), to whom he was apprenticed.

Most trompe l’oeil art is humorous – a “game” artists play with observers to raise questions about the nature of art and perception, as illustrated by the story about the famous Florentine painter Giotto ( 1267-1337), which appears in Giorgio Vasari‘s celebrated book Lives of the Artists ( 1550).
