WEST GOSHEN TWP, Pa.—Trompe l’oeil (tromp LOY) or “trick of the eye” en français is the technique of using realistic imagery to create an optical illusion of depth and thereby fucking with people’s minds. The term originated with a trickster named Louis-Léopold Boilly (1761-1845), who used it as the title of a painting he exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1800, but the technique can be found as far ago as Greek and Roman times. A typical trompe l’oeil mural might then have depicted a window, door, or hallway intended to suggest a larger room.
Today there is no typical trompe l’oeil in America, mural or otherwise. Hasn’t been since the technique burst from its frame like a Miniature Green Hulk looking to kick un petit cul or at least to fool it into kicking itself. Fans of trompe l’oeil can thank William Michael Harnett (1848–1892) for that development. Mr. Harnett created trompe l’oeil money so realistic that he faced charges of counterfeiting. After that all bets were on viv-a-vis trompe l’oeil, which expanded to include the realistic portrayal of stamps, pipes, musical instruments, books, photographs, and newspapers.
That expansion remains ongoing. Not even the freedom-fries-instead-of-French-fries-and-fuck-all-other-things-French movement (2003-2006) could put the genius back in the paint tube.
Said genius, unfortunately, has its price. Its first known victim was Aeschylus, who died c. 456 BCE, aged c. 67. The revered tragedian was killed by a tortoise that had been dropped on Aeschylus’ head from some distance by a none-too-sharp-eyed eagle. Aparrently old eagle eyes mistook Aeschylus’ bald head for a rock on which the eagle might shuck the tortoise. Thus occurred the world’s first known manslaughter by trompe l’oeil. Dude should have worn a grass-covered helmet. Ironically or not, we honestly can’t say, Aeschylus had been staying outdoors to reverse engineer a prophecy that said he would be killed by a falling object.
The website Creative Bloq contains numerous images of trompe l’oeil.
So does the website HubSpot.
Youse can DuckDuckGo yourselves the rest.
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