Trompe-l’œil

Painting the Real
the Art of the False

The art of trompe-l'oeil began in Roman antiquity (Pompeii frescoes, grotesques in the Domus Aurea), with the legend of the Roman author Pliny the Elder, who relates this anecdote illustrating the field: Zeuxis is said to have painted grapes so realistically that birds flocked to the perfect execution. In response, Parrhasios had a painting of a drape brought in. Zeuxis then asked for the drape to be pulled out to see the painting, and thus admitted defeat: if he had deceived the birds, he would fall into the same trap; the Latin proverb Ars est celare artem - Art consists in concealing art - echoes.

Throughout the ages (Giotto's frescoes in the Middle Ages, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel in the Renaissance, the Trompe-l'oeil paintings of 17th-century artist Cornelis Norbertus Gysbrechts), the art of trompe-l'oeil has accumulated a variety of techniques (perspective, perfect mastery of light, contrasts and spatial dimensions, to name but a few) and experienced a new boom in the 18th century. Techniques were developed, particularly in the field of imitation, cataloged, brushes and tools were created specifically for their execution.

BITS Studio respects these techniques and this tradition, while at the same time seeking innovation in this marvelous history.