Famous Trompe L'oeil Paintings

Johann Georg Hinz - 1666

De Scott Evans, "Homage to Parrot" - 1890

Ludger tom Ring the Younger, "Open Missal" - 1570

Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, "Bouquet of Flowers"


John Frederick Peto, "Patch Painting" - 1886

Cornelis Gijsbrechts, "Easel" - 1670 (the entire image is a painting)

Giovanni Paolo Pannini, "Roma Antica" & "Gallery of the Views of Modern Rome" - 1755, 1758

Pere Borrell del Caso, "Escaping Criticism" - 1874

So what is "trompe l'oeil" (pronounced tromp loy) anyway? Well, I found an amusing story on Wikipedia: "George Washington was once fooled by a trompe-l'œil painting when he visited the studio of Charles Willson Peale. 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." The painting, Staircase Group showed two of Peale's sons. That humorous story pretty much sums up what trompe l'oeil is supposed to be, an illusion fooling it's viewer into thinking the image is real. Technically, the art of trompe l'oeil painting is a technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist. The name is derived from the French term for "trick the eye". Above are several great examples of famous trompe l'oeil paintings by equally famous artists of times past.