Illusionistic ceiling painting is a tradition started in Renaissance and perfected in Baroque and Rococo art in which trompe l'oeil, perspective tools and other spatial effects are applied to create the illusion of three-dimensional space on a surface above the viewer. It is frequently used to visually suggest an open sky, or a fictive architectural space.
Used techniques are perspective di sotto in sù and quadratura. Di sotto in sù (or sotto in su), which means "seen from below" or "from below, upward" in Italian, was developed in late 15th century Italian Renaissance painting. Italians also call it prospettiva melozziana, or "Melozzo's perspective". The technique often uses foreshortened figures and an architectural vanishing point to create the perception of true space above the viewer.
Quadratura, an Italian term introduced in the 17th century became popular with Baroque artists. Although it can also refer to the "opening up" of walls through architectural illusion, the term is most-commonly associated with ceiling painting. Due to its reliance on perspective theory, it more fully unites architecture, painting and sculpture and gives a more overwhelming impression of illusionism than earlier less scientific techniques.
Skies are a favorite as they are relaxing to look at and change in color and depth with the varying light throughout the day.
Ceilings in general are rather hard work. However, the visual effect of a fully decorated ceiling is certainly worth the effort.
Painted architecture and ornamentation on a ceiling is also very attractive and creates a wonderful illusionist effects as the viewer is always positioned at a good standpoint.
The impulse or need to bring nature into the home is not new. Roman painters created "trompe l'oeil" landscapes to extend the visual space of rooms in villas and palaces.
The "pastoral" genre of poetry appeared in Greece and Rome, most significantly in Virgil's "Ecologues," also known as "Bucolica," composed between 42 and 37 BC. They described the idyllic world of Arcadia with shepherds tending their flock and leading simple lives close to nature. This timeless pastoral landscape theme recurs throughout the centuries in all forms of art: music, literature and (mural) painting.
While the concept of the "idealized" landscape is more than two thousand years old, in the Middle Ages the landscape was seldom more than a background motif and rarely the subject of an art work. By the 16th century landscape painting was reborn particularly in the Netherlands and Italy.
From the 17th to well into the 19th century - parallel to the rise of travel and Europe's mercantile & colonial expansion - more exotic vistas were added to the artistic repertoire. For decorating the homes of the well to do, there was a growing choice of printed textiles and wallpapers with all kinds of landscape scenery. And for the more affluent there was mural painting customized to the individual taste.
Now the armchair traveller might choose to visit a flower-covered terrace, including a peacock, overlooking a lake and architectural ruins, representing Europe; minarets and a pagoda symbolizing Asia; the Nile River, desert plants and Egyptian ruins recalling Africa, or the lushest of all, a small Brazilian town with exotic flora and fauna, representing the Americas.
After going out of fashion for many decades the tradition of mural landscape painting enjoyed a renaissance in the late 20th century.
Similar to mirrors, landscape murals and perspective ceiling painting creates the illusion of additional space. <under construction - more text will follow>
