This past spring I was faced with the challenge of writing an art history article for a trade magazine. I had to be as accurate as possible while making it interesting for the general public...in other words keeping it from being too boring!
(the article below was featured in the spring 2007 issue of The Faux Finisher magazine) I find myself seated in the center of a quaint room, modest in style, with a small window on the north wall. A parade of mystical portraits mottle the walls that surround me. There is a faint odor of linseed oil, and as I look around I see an easel sitting directly in front of me. I'm dressed in a rather drab, dark-colored costume typical of early sixteenth-century Italy. After a few moments, I see the face of a middle-aged man peek around at me from behind the easel. The silver haired man has a kind look in his eyes, and I'm astonished at the realization that this in fact none other than the great Leonardo da Vinci! As he leans forward from behind the easel, he speaks to me. "Can you tell us the answer?" he says. Puzzled by his inquiry, I ask him to repeat the question. "CAN YOU TELL US THE ANSWER?" the voice says. Suddenly I open my eyes only to realize I am sitting at my desk, in 7th grade art history class. The faces of all my fellow students stare back at me intently, awaiting my response to Mrs. Johnson's question. Needless to say, art history was not one of my favorite classes. I could sum it up with one word: boring! It wasn't until I reached my early twenties, owner of a faux and mural business, that I became interested in the history behind the art of decorative painting.
Prehistoric Evidence
The earliest known form of decorative painting is a fresco technique dating back 30,000 years. These paintings were created on the limestone walls of the
Lascaux caves in southwestern France. The early frescoes depicted realistic figures of horses, bison, bears, lions, and mammoths being hunted. Interestingly, these "stories" of the hunt were depicted in order from left to right, much like a comic strip, until the prey was captured. It is obvious, then, that they were meant to tell a story from beginning to end. These prehistoric artists utilized readily available pigments made from plants and minerals. They appear to have ingeniously created an airbrush of sorts, either blowing the paint mixture directly from their mouths, or through a tube made from hollowed-out bone. This definitely puts a new perspective on the common perception of the caveman.
Possibly the earliest evidence of fresco wall murals are the cave paintings found at Lascaux in southwestern France (ca. 15,000 BC). Fresco painting continued to be a popular method of decorative artistry right up through the Classical (490–323 BC) and
Hellenistic (323-146 BC) periods. At that point there was a major development in the art of decorative painting when certain painters began to use the technique known as
trompe l'oeil. In a sense, a trompe l’oeil artist is truly a magician with paint! The point is to fool the viewer into thinking what they are seeing is reality, not simply an artist’s rendition of the subject matter. Correct use of perspective drawing, value, and color are a necessity for this "trick of the eye" to be convincing. Although
linear perspective would not be discovered for many years, these early painters were able to convincingly depict a level of depth in their paintings. Pliny the Elder, who is credited with writing the first encyclopedia, claimed trompe l’oeil had it's roots around 400 BC when two great artists,
Zeuxis and Parrhasius, held a competition to see who could create the most realistic painting. The first painter, Zeuxis, produced a still life painting so convincing that it is said birds flew down from the sky to peck at the painted grapes. The master then turned to his opponent, Parrhasius, demanding that he pull back the curtains to reveal his painting. It was then that Parrhasius knew he had won the contest, as his painting was the curtains themselves! Another story tells that when Giotto was still an assistant in the studio, he once painted a fly on the end of the nose of a model in a painting being worked on. When the master came back the next morning, he spent several minutes trying to brush the fly off the canvas before realizing it was painted on.
The oldest known preserved trompe l’oeil can be found in the ruins of
Pompeii and Herculaneum . These Roman frescoes date back to the first century AD, and depict remarkably realistic scenes of figures, landscapes, masks and garlands. Many were religious in nature, featuring the Greek gods and goddesses of that time. Even the wealthiest citizens of Pompeii owned homes which were surprisingly limited in size, so they disguised the small spaces with the broadened horizons derived from trompe l'oeil paintings. Particularly outstanding examples of these decorative embellishments are to be found in the
Villa of the Mysteries, which lies about a half mile north-west of Pompeii.
Fresco mural from Pompeii, 1st Century B.C. These artists were some of the first to employ the use of trompe l'oeil perspective in their paintings.
The Renaissance Painters
A different spirit permeates the frescoes painted by early Christians living in Rome during the late second and third centuries AD. The early Christians decorated the walls and vaults of their underground tombs with Christian symbols and scenes from the Bible. The most celebrated frescoes in western Europe were painted by the great Italian masters: Giotto, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Tiepolo. Probably the most notable of these is the Sistine Chapel fresco (1508-1512) by Michelangelo, which features the creation of Adam. Michelangelo was originally commissioned to paint only 12 figures, the apostles. He turned down the commission because he saw himself as a sculptor, not a painter. As a compromise, the Pope allowed Michelangelo to paint biblical scenes of his own choice. When the work was finished, there were more than 300 figures in all! It is interesting to note that as far as trends in mural painting were concerned, the use of figures, mythology, and Biblical themes were very prevalent. It wasn't until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that we began to see the use of landscape and architectural elements on their own, which was very modern for the time. So modern, in fact, that muralists today still use the exact same subject matter. It is said that while painting his famous "Last Judgment" fresco (1534-1541), the Master of Ceremonies to Pope Paul III frequently complained about the shameless nudity of Michelangelo's painted figures, asserting that such images were fitting of taverns and public baths but certainly not a house of God . When the work was finally unveiled, the man was horrified to see himself depicted therein, among the damned in hell being tormented by demons. Enraged, the man promptly complained to the pope, who refused to intervene. "God has given me authority in Heaven and on Earth," he declared, "but my writ does not extend to Hell." Perhaps this was the birth of the common perception of what is known as the "artist's temperament".
Originally commissioned to paint just 12 figures, Michelangelo ended up painting over 300 figures in all.
Two more notable Renaissance artists were Raphael and my personal favorite, Tiepolo. Raphael's famous paintings adorning the library of Pope Julius III, collectively called The School of Athens (1509-1510), depict the greatest philosophers, scientists and mathematicians of classical antiquity. In one of the paintings, a self-portrait sits at the far lower-right of the fresco, as a young man with brown hair staring straight out at the viewer. On the left of the painting a female figure, dressed all in white, is also staring out at the viewer. Romantic legend has it that she is Raphael's love, Margherita. Others assert that this is instead Hypatia of Alexandria, the first woman to have made a substantial contribution to the development of mathematics and philosophy. Still others believe that this is a young man named Francesco Maria I della Rovere. Being most painters of his day often used male figure models even when depicting a woman, it's no wonder experts cannot agree. I rather prefer the romantic version.Another of Raphael’s great decorative works are the ornamental panels of the Loggias at the Vatican Palace (1513-1518). It consists of 13 vaulted sections forming a gallery over 200 feet long. Of particular interest are the elaborate decorative panels adorning the arches and support columns. Raphael found his inspiration in the paintings found in the rooms and corridors of the buried ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, uncovered by fifteenth century Roman excavators. Found were painted designs of garlands, animals, and stylized human heads which the Roman archaeologists found mysteriously strange. This style of painting came to be commonly known as grotesque, or grottesca as it is known in Italian. This name is attributed to the Latin root word "grotto", or cave, and is so called because of the location in which the paintings were uncovered. However, given it's modern definition, the word grotesque seems fitting in light of the fact that the Romans viewed the motifs as odd, without rhyme or reason. They seemed to them to depict a fantasy world where instead of columns and pediments, candelabras gave way to stems and scrolling vines, topped off by half figures or human and animal heads. Whatever the origin of the name, the ornamentation produced by Raphael's vivid imagination has no equal among the designs created throughout the Renaissance era. This art form again surfaced in 18th-century Neoclassicism, and remains popular to this day.
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770), as mentioned above, was arguably the greatest trompe l'oeil painter of 18th century Europe and the unquestionable first master of the "Grand Manner". He is best known for his frescoed ceilings; in particular, those found at the Würzburg Palace, Germany. There, Tiepolo painted a vast ceiling showing Apollo and the Continents. In this fresco, the ceiling opens onto a light-filled sky inhabited by the Olympian gods, at each corner is a picturesque vignette symbolizing the four continents, with figures shown as though spilling out over the cornice molding, into the world of the viewer. Tiepolo employed multiple viewpoints determined by the progression of visitors climbing the stairs for an audience with the prince-bishop, thus showing his keen awareness of site and function. But what made Tiepolo truly unique for his time was the way he masterfully painted these celestial bodies in a bright and inviting manner. In contrast, many of his contemporaries depicted these scenes as dark and ominous. Subsequent generations and their works have been strongly influenced by these true masters of illusion.
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770) was arguably the greatest trompe l'oeil painter of the 18th century Europe and the unquestionable first master of the "Grand Manner".
Modern Times
During the 19th century Neoclassical and Empire styles, the demand for decorative painting exploded as the growing middle and upper classes began decorating their homes in the same lavish manner that was once reserved solely for royalty and religious institutions. The popularity of decorative painting continued into the early 20th century, with the Art deco style of the 20's and 30's being the most notable. Stenciling, gilding, and faux bois were utilized with frequency during this time. However, the occurrence of the Great Depression followed by World War II, meant a dramatic decline in the art. This was in part due to economic problems which plagued all classes, and partly due to the growing popularity of abstract art as well as improvements made in wallpaper manufacturing. Happily, decorative painting experienced a rebirth during the 1980's and embraced a wide range of styles including, more recently, a return to classical décor. Many of us cringe at the mention of "sponge painting" and "rag rolling" made so popular during this time. However, if it were not for the emergence of these techniques we all could quite possibly be sitting behind a desk answering phone calls instead of enjoying being a modern representative of this ageless art, the art of decorative painting.
Having endured for centuries, it is as aesthetically pleasing to the beholder today as it was for the cavemen of antiquity. But it's intrigue can be attributed to so much more than just that. It is the thought provoking stories behind the artists and their paintings that make these historical figures so fascinating. The realization of which I would have greatly appreciated during my adolescent years. In my inquisitive young mind, I could not comprehend how anyone could possibly find anything of interest in the art history books lined up along the wall of Mrs. Johnson's classroom. "How was this going to benefit me in real life?", I wondered. But a seed was planted in my mind that day, a longing for more, and I'm contented to know it has grown into a tree of interesting facts and stories that I can now share with others.
About the Author
Muralist Patricia Buzo has always had a passion for painting. Even at a very young age she recalls adorning the walls of her parent's home with her masterpieces in
De Scott Evans, "Homage to Parrot" - 1890
John Frederick Peto, "Patch Painting" - 1886
Cornelis Gijsbrechts, "Easel" - 1670 (the entire image is a painting)
Pere Borrell del Caso, "Escaping Criticism" - 1874
Number one on my list has to be 
Another very talented artist is Linda Cassels-Hofmann of 
