Trompe l'oeil

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Trompe l'oeil.

Literally to trick the eye. To get really good effects you need a bit of artistic flair or be able to copy effectively. There are various simple things like grisaille effects which most people can do. To transform a blank alcove into a gateway to a sunny vineyard requires a bit more expertise.
The picture on the right was done in a private garden (Newmarket, UK) and is painted on a brick wall. Perspective is a very important part of making trompe l'oeil look real.
Ready made paper designs are very helpful if you feel a bit artistically challenged. Blend your wall colour with your paper designs.
Working with emulsions and artists oil-paints will keep things simple for you.

Trompe-l'śil is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist, instead of being just two-dimensional paintings. The name is derived from French for "trick the eye", from tromper - to deceive and l'śil - the eye.

Sotto in su

Sotto in su, meaning Seen from below in Italian, (also called di sotto in su) is an alternative term for a type of trompe l'śil illusionistic painting technique used for ceilings to provide perspective. The elements above the viewer are rendered as if viewed in true vanishing point perspective. This is used commonly in Italian Baroque fresco cycles in a style called Quadratura. Probably its first use was by Andrea Mantegna in the Camera degli Sposi in Mantua. Other notable uses are by Antonio da Correggio in the Duomo of Parma, Pietro da Cortona's Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power in the Palazzo Barberini, and Andrea Pozzo's Apotheosis of St Ignatius [4] at the Roman church of Sant'Ignazio.
The interior of Jesuit churches in the mannerist style often show trompe-l'śil paintings on the ceiling, optically opening by anamorphosis the church to heaven with a depiction of Jesus' or Mary's ascension.
sotto in su

History in painting Although the phrase has its origin in the Baroque period, use of trompe-l'śil dates back much further. It was (and is) often employed in murals, and instances from Greek and Roman times are known, for instance from Pompeii. A typical trompe-l'śil mural might depict a window, door or hallway to optically enlarge a room.
A version of an often-told ancient Greek story tells of 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 then asked his opponent, Parrhasius, to pull back a pair of very tattered curtains, claiming the painting was behind them. Parrhasius won the contest, as his painting was the curtains themselves.
With the superior understanding of perspective drawing achieved in the Renaissance, painters, beginning with Jacopo de' Barbari, often added trompe-l'śil 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, 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.
A Bachelor's Drawer by John Haberle (1890–94)Trompe-l'śil can also be found painted on tables and other items of furniture, where 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'śil painted around 1723 by Jan van der Vaart .
Modern revival The art form was revived by the American 19th century still-life painter William Harnett. In the 20th century, Richard Haas painted large trompe-l'śil murals in American cities.
In other art forms Trompe-l'śil 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'śil mural.
Another variant of trompe-l'śil is matte painting, a technique used in film making 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'śil is featured in many Looney Tunes, such as the Road Runner cartoons, where Wile E. Coyote (for example) 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.
George Washington was once fooled by a trompe-l'śil painting when he visited someone else's home. 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.