Trompe LOeil and the Interior - Essay Example

Trompe l’oeil & the interior (Renaissance) Trompe l’oeil & the interior (Renaissance) If one can deceive the eye, He can deceive the mind. Painting techniques such as spatial illusion came into existence around the seventeenth century. They were developed to address cultural anxieties that were triggered by both scientific and religious revolutions. Another compelling factor was the need by artists to create virtuosic visual display. The artists intended to capture the notion of perception in their work. Their creation was art and architecture whose sole motive was to deceive the eye on the reality of a painting. This was to be known as Trompe l’oeil, which in French is literally “to deceive the eye” (Damisch, 1984)1. This trompe l’oeil paintings and architecture have existed since then and are a crucial part of modern art and architecture. Trompe l’oeil is a style of art that was developed and popularized in the Renaissance era (Kristeller, 1965)2. The main technique used by these ancient artists was using perspective manipulations to achieve paintings that were self-reflective. The second crucial technique was in using art to develop deception through double wonderment (Damisch, 1984)3. The principle of double wonderment focused on two perspectives. The first perspective was to make the viewers of these images whether the paintings were real. Second wonder aroused by the painting was the question of just how the artist achieved such an effect The use of oils was another prominent technique used in the renaissance paintings. Oils enhanced representation of distance using a gradation of tones. Light colored oils were used in the foreground picture flame. One of the main techniques of trompe l’oeil was linear perspective. This was a means of representing far away objects to scale with the close objects. Shading was also an indispensable technique for trompe l’oeil. Shading was used extensively to achieve realism while giving a viewer an illusion perspective. The development of linear perspective drawing helped ancient Italian artists master the art of painting three dimensional paintings. Trompe l’oeil has been used in many forms of design including set design (Thornton, 1991)4. Also, trompe l’oeil is used to create an optical illusion so that objects in the painting have depth and are in three dimensions. Artists in the Renaissance era used techniques in painting that created a perception of depth. To achieve depth they had to employ a three dimensional perspective. One of the main techniques used by these artists was to overlap objects. When an object is drawn in front of another and overlapping it, the first object appears to be in front. In the Renaissance paintings, overlapping was the strongest indication of distance, and as objects are overridden continually, the perceived distance increases. Another technique used in the trompe l’oeil interiors of the renaissance era was use of diminishing scale. Objects were drawn into scale of size using this technique. Where two objects of the known same size are drawn one bigger than the other one, the bigger image is perceived to be closer. This was used extensively in the renaissance era especially with the Trompe l’oeil interiors (Tzonis, 1986)5. The artists in the renaissance era also used technique of diagonal lines to achieve diminishing scale. Where lines are drawn to narrow as they go further away, they create an illusion of depth. This is perhaps the most used technique in the Trompe l’oeil paintings. Diagonal lines were painted as they moved towards each other creating a perception of depth and diminishing scale. Another technique was the use of colors. A common assumption in art and architecture is that people see bright colors as being close. Such colors such as red and yellow are deemed to be close. The most commonly application of this technique in the renaissance was in drawing and painting of landscapes. For landscapes, to achieve depth, blue is used to haze far away objects giving an illusion of distance (Wittkower, 1971)6. The renaissance artists also used a technique called “bottom to top placement”. With this technique, the ground was painted at the bottom of the painting while the ceiling was painted at the top. Combined with the use of shades and diagonal lines, these techniques gave the paintings depth. Artists also used extensively shading to create a partial impressions distance. The objects painted dark and with heavy contrast seemed to be closer than those that were painted blurry. The artists during this era also developed paintings that captured realism into illusion. Another technique used was humanism and perspective. As discussed earlier, the linear perspective was used to create a three dimensional representation of objects on a flat surface. The other technique was Sfumato (Murray, 1986)7. This technique was used in the Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci. This technique involved infusing shades into one another to create depth and an illusion of three dimensions. The shades were blended interchanging giving lighter tones to the background. Another technique of the renaissance era was Chiaroscuro. With this technique, light and dark were used to contrast and create depth. Deep contrast was used to bring objects to the fore ground, and as it decreased so did the illusion of distance. Objects seem to appear from the darkness giving a three dimensional illusion. Another technique was Fresco where paint pigments were mixed with water or other binding agents. The pigment mixture was then painted to create depth. Another technique common in the renaissance painting was foreshortening. Here, paintings were given three dimensions illusion by drawing objects retreating into the background. One of the trompe l’oeil artists who used this technique extensively was Andrea Mantegna (Kruft, 2006)8. An example of a trompe l’oeil painting is found in a cathedral in Biella, Italy. The picture was taken by Leonardo Ciampa in 2007. Cathedral in Biella, Italy: Several techniques of painting have been used in this painting. Use of perspective manipulations is evident rescinding of the pillars. This creates a double wonderment to the viewer if the corridor exists and how the artist achieved the realism in the painting. Also, integration of hyperbolic space is employed on the pews with extremely little detail to the pictorial outfit. Another technique evident in the picture is shading. This was a powerful technique for the trompe l’oeil painting. This is evident especially on the roof representation. An overlap of objects technique is also used where the pillars seem to overlap each other. Another technique common in trompe l’oeil paintings is the use of diminishing scale. The pews have been painted become smaller as they go farther away in the distance. This utilizes the diagonal line technique. Lastly is the bottom to top placement technique (Thornton, 1991)9. Another example is the Perspective view of the “Sala Delle Prospettive”. This is a wall painting by Peruzzi, Baldassare in the Villa Farnesina. In this painting, a viewer cannot distinguish where the marble floor ends as it is merged with the floor in the painting. Another intriguing feature is the representation of the hall (Gombrich, 2000)10. Viewers are tricked to think that the hall stretches to a distance with the doors set at a far distance. This painting is a trompe l’oeil masterpiece as it encompasses almost all renaissance painting techniques. To achieve a sense of depth, Peruzzi uses diagonal lines. The marble floor and the ceiling have been drawn with the diagonal line technique of linear perspective. The second technique is the use of color. The windows down the hallway have a fading blue sky effect. This makes the viewers think it is the actual skyline. Shading is also used extensively. The chimney uses shading and linear perspective to achieve depth. Foreshortening is used to illusion the viewer of a receding hallway, creating intense spatial effect. In conclusion, the trompe loeil artists used many techniques to develop clear and elaborate paintings. From the renaissance art, there developed another style of art in the Baroque period at around 1600. Unlike in the renaissance period, the Baroque period was characterized by exaggerated details in the form of paintings. In comparison to the renaissance art, both were encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church. Most of the styles used in the trompe loeil such as shading and linear perspective were also used in the later periods, though in the Baroque and Rococo, the techniques were exaggerated. The trompe loeil was therefore an important style as it served as a land mark for future creations. The renaissance art led to the growth and development of the three dimensional technique from the two developments, serving as a reference point for later periods in art history. The trompe loeil of the renaissance period was therefore a crucial stage in art history. Bibliography Bryson, Norma. “The gaze and the glance”. In Vision and Painting: The Logic of the Gaze. 87-183. London: Macmillan, 1983. Damisch, Hubert. The origin of perspective. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1984. Gombrich, E. H. Art and illusion; a study in the psychology of pictorial representation. 11th Edition, The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, 1956, Bollinger Series Xxxb: 5. New York: Princeton University Press, 2000. Kristeller, Paul Oskar. Renaissance thought li: Papers on Humanism and the fine Arts. New York: Harper & Row, 1965. Kruft, Hanno-Walter. A history of architectural theory: An Anthology from Vitruvius to 1870. New York, NY: Blackwell, 2006. Murray, peter. The architecture of the Italian renaissance. London: Thames and Hudson, 1986. Rykwert, Joseph. The Palladian ideal. Edited by Roberto Schezen. New York, NY: Rizzoli, 1999. Summerson, john, and British Broadcasting Corporation. The classical language of architecture. London: Thames and Hudson, 1980. Thornton, peter. The Italian Renaissance interior 1400-1600. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, 1991. Tzonis, Alexander. Classical architecture: the poetics of order. Edited by Liane Lefaivre. Cambidge, Mass: M.I.T Press, 1986. Wittkower, Rudolf. Architectural principles in the age of humanism. New York, NY: W.W.Norton & Company, 1971. Read More