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Trompe l’œil: Magical Deception
By Lisa Abdolian
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| The hand
touched a flat surface; but the eye, still seduced, saw relief; to the
extent that one could have asked a philosopher, which of these two contradictory
senses was a liar?
Denis Diderot, Salon of 1761 |
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| The first time
I noticed a trompe l’œil I was on a train going through the south Bronx
in N.Y. I stared out at rows and rows of decayed buildings, their windows
haphazardly covered with uneven pieces of cardboard and wood, and then
suddenly a single perfectly preserved structure passed by. I was stunned
– not only were the windows shiny and clear, but they were framed by shutters
and flowerboxes that were overflowing with color – reds, yellows, greens
and violets.
I marveled about the building
and the possibility of urban renewal for a few minutes before realizing
it was a trompe l’œil. A French expression, trompe l’œil means to “trick
the eye.” The painter’s goal is to do just that – to fool the viewer into
thinking that he is observing a real scene, not a reproduced one.
While the name of the three-dimensional
paintings hails from the Baroque period, the technique of creating the
illusion of reality in art has been around since antiquity. Pliny the Elder,
who is credited with writing the first encyclopedia, claimed trompe l’œil
began in earnest around 400 BC when two great artists, Zeuxis and Parrhasius,
held a competition to see who could create the most realistic painting.
Zeuxis allegedly pulled the cover from his creation and birds flew down
to peck at the painted grapes.
Zeuxis then turned to his
opponent’s painting and reached for the curtain that covered the canvas.
He knew he had been beaten when he realized the cover was actually the
painting. |
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Like so much
of humanity’s early knowledge, the artistry of trompe l’œil was lost during
the dark ages. It is believed to have re-emerged after Florentine architect
Filippo Brunelleschi discovered linear perspective in the 15th century.
Trompe l’œils became a favorite of Italian artists and began appearing
on everything from cathedral ceilings to chateau walls. The oldest known
preserved trompe l’œil can be found in the ruins of Pompeii.
The mastery
of trompe l’œils grew when Dutch painters advanced the knowledge of the
science of optics in the 17th century. Enhanced mathematical skills and
information about the laws of perspective were incorporated into paintings,
creating the illusion that the objects of the work had crossed into the
realm of man. The result was a sophisticated visual game in which the artist
pushed the viewer’s perception of reality to the brink of confusion. In
good trompe l’œils it is difficult to determine what is real and what is
fake. In great ones you never even know you’ve been tricked.
“The old Italian
masters did it so brilliantly, it was wondrous,” said Annie Worthington,
a Biot, France based artist who spent years restoring the work of the masters
in Paris. “I love the reality of it, it’s fantastic to trick the eye with
a brilliant painting. The hard part is making it three-dimensional.” This
is accomplished with flawlessly subtle brush strokes and meticulous attention
to detail, shadows, color and light.
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For
a trompe l’œil to be effective the object must be must be depicted in its
actual size, in its natural color and in its entirety. Sometimes the artist’s
goal was to only temporarily deceive the observer so the mastery of his
work could be admired.
With that goal,
the trickery has more of an impact than the painting itself. The wonder
of whether the image is real is replaced by the wonder of how the artist
accomplished the task.
A good example
of the use of temporary deception is Spanish artist Pere Borell del Caso’s
“Escaping Criticism”, in which a boy appears to be frantically leaping
out of the captivity of his picture frame. The image of the boy escaping
is astonishing and those who view the picture it in a museum are bound
to do a double take. |
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Today trompe l’œils are usually
designed to “trick” the viewer for as long as possible. They are used to
create unique design elements that add subtle accents to an office, a commercial
building, a room or a house. With the right painter, an ordinary plaster
bathroom wall can become a luxurious faux marble decoration or a bright
frosted glass window. A low ceiling can gain some depth with well-placed
visual additions and the “dead space” above our heads can be brought to
life with a trompe l’œil skylight and ledge with an overflowing ivy plant.
Currently en vogue are domed and stain-glass trompe l’œil ceilings in buildings
with high ceilings.
Good artists can create the illusion
of anything – height, depth or materials like suede, wood, leather or marble.
Trompe l’œils are often used to make a small room or apartment seem larger
without the hassle and expense involved in actually tearing down walls
or building marble columns.
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Ceiling - Before Trompe l'oeil
artistry
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Ceiling - After Trompe l'oeil
artistry
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“I
think trompe l’œil was often used because people couldn’t afford to do
the real thing architecturally and so they did it with paint,” said Worthington.
“The cost to add stone elements can be astronomical. The thing is though;
a trompe l’œil has to be done well, which isn’t easy. If it’s done badly,
it doesn’t work at all.”
The relative
low cost of creating the illusion rather than the reality is partially
the reason for the renewed interest in trompe l’œils worldwide. Priced
at around 1,000 euros per painted meter, trompe l’œils are not cheap. But
they are less expensive and less tiresome than months of reconstruction
work.
According to
Patrick Bancel, a French trompe l’œil painter, the problem with the sudden
popularity of the art is that the style has been added to art school curriculums
without the acknowledgement that it takes years to master the technique.
“Some think
that it is better to let people know that it is a painting, but I think
that is just the ego of the artist who wants recognition,” said Bancel,
who works out of New York. “Because it’s in fashion there are a lot of
schools that have opened that aren’t perfect. I feel much more satisfied
if a person passes my work and doesn’t look twice because he thinks it
is real. Then I know I accomplished my goal.”
One of his
favorite trompe l’œil projects was in a stylish Monaco apartment complex.
“The apartments
all had oak doors, with private elevators leading into the apartments.
But the elevator doors were steel and it contrasted with the oak doors.
I made the steel elevator doors look oak and created a molding around it.
People didn’t notice it when they went into the apartment, but when they
left, after two or three glasses of wine, they would touch the molding
couldn’t believe it wasn’t real – they thought they had had too much wine.”
Bancel said
he is often commissioned to create the illusion of larger rooms, natural
light in windowless rooms or arched ceilings with antique patterns in relief.
“There are
many ways to use trompe l’œil as an architectural element,” he said. “I
can paint a picture on a wall complete with a frame and the string and
nail that it hangs from. I can create a corridor that seems to continue
after it ends or paint a window where there is none. Trompe l’ œil paintings
can be used to make an apartment look bigger or brighter or to add elements
that don’t take away from the space.”
A bulky bookshelf
can be replaced with a painted one, complete with imaginary books and carefully
recreated family pictures in frames. A plant stand can be replaced with
a trompe l’œil garden with delicate orchids – which are much easier to
care for than the real thing – and colorful American violets and ferns
with cascading leaves. Or an entire wall can be dedicated to giving the
illusion of space with the addition of marble pillars that lead to another
room, doorways that seem to continue forever or a terrace just outside
sliding glass doors.
“I can paint
a picture on a wall where nothing exists and change the room totally,”
said Bancel, adding that it can take anywhere from a day to six months
to complete a trompe l’œil depending on the size and style. “It’s fantastic
to see how different a room looks and how much happier people are with
their homes.” |
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This wonderfully
deceptive artistry can also be used to enhance or improve an element already
present in a room. Bancel is currently turning dreary, chipped and peeling
wooden beams in a beautiful room in a Fifth Avenue New York apartment into
an elegant mahogany masterpiece. He is carefully creating the lines and
fibers of the wood so it is indistinguishable from the real thing.
“I can paint
a
chair mahogany so even an antique dealer can’t tell the difference,” he
said. “The trick is to make a scene so realistic that people pass by and
don’t know that it is a painting. If you can accomplish that, then you
have succeeded.”
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| Artists
don’t rely solely on paints for the magical deception, they use plaster,
glazes, mirrors and anything they happen to find that will make the illusion
more convincing. For example, molding, achitraves or arches may be made
of plaster with a finish of woodgrain or marble. The artist considers any
material that will enhance the illusion fair game.
“I’ve been
doing this for 21 or 22 years now and I’m still learning – from observing
first, but I also learn a lot by chance,” said Bancel. “Sometimes I’m mixing
colors and I make a mistake and find a new color that creates an effect
that I couldn’t do before and I incorporate it into my work.”
The use of
trompe l’ œils on the exterior of buildings is very popular in Europe and
is becoming more visible on public buildings and in parks in the U.S. Visit
any 17th century village in France and you will find an abundance of trompe
l’œils masquerading as architectural elements: the decorative stones that
climb a building’s four corners are an illusion; the ornate stone-carved
frame of the windows is, in fact, simply paint and the windows lining an
office building are actually brilliantly concealed concrete.
One of the
most amazing public trompe loeils I’ve seen is in the village of Pierrefeu-du-Var
in the south of France. The entire wall of a three-story apartment building
has been turned into a charming Provençal villa. The image is so
real a viewer believes the three tiers of tiled roofing, the arched window
frames, the stone railing and even the man standing on a high balcony are
anything but an illusion. I wouldn’t have been a bit surprised if smoke
started pouring from the painted chimney.
Trompe l’œils
are also being used to enhance backyards. A small yard can seem to continue
forever when a drab brick wall becomes a large Italian garden or a tropical
paradise. In fact, a good trompe l’œil can turn a small backyard into a
idyllic retreat.
Artists can
recreate any homeowner's passion: a baseball stadium, scenery from a favorite
childhood vacation spot or even the extension of the local ambiance, such
as a neighborhood park. Combining real objects with the trompe l’œil, or
adding client’s belongings, can make the illusion more comfortable and
more convincing. |
A steel
elevator door made to look like oak
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According
to Worthington “everyone has their distinct taste and trompe l’œils should
reflect this.” Recently she painted a large wall with architectural plats
and incorporated the family’s cat sitting in a corner watching passersby.
“I’ve done trompe l’œils on mirrors and windows, they can really be done
on anything. The key is to make it realistic and three-dimensional.”
And while it
is great to pull one over on the unreliable eye, Bancel says the reward
is in the clients’ response to his work. “We talk a lot before I begin
and we go through a number of renderings so I can see what they like and
be completely sure that I know what they want. When I’m done and they get
the trick and have smile on their face, that’s the best part of it for
me.”
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Links
to other related sites and resources
| More Amazing Architecture: Vienna's
Hundertwasserhaus -
Vienna's Hundertwasserhaus - By Michael Felton-O'Brien |
| Other articles
by this author: |
| The Italian Lake District - The
Italian Lake District ~ The Lake District is one of the most romantic
places in Italy. Surrounded by majestic snow-capped mountains, the deep
glacial lakes provide an oasis of calm and serenity. Hillsides are covered
with olive groves, lemon trees or date palms and banana trees. Rhododendrons,
azaleas, camellias and an assortment of wildflowers provide colourful additions
to the green hills in the summertime. |
| Real Estate in Antibes / Juan-les-Pins
- Real Estate
in Antibes / Juan-les-Pins ~ Antibes Realtor Jean-Mark Phillipe compares
people who tell him they are looking for property somewhere in France between
Nice and St. Tropez to those who say they want to live in California somewhere
between San Francisco and San Diego. |
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