Trompe-l'oeil

Trompe-l'oeil is a painting technique where a painted object is depicted to realistically that it seems to exist in real space. From the French phrase meaning “deceive the eye” trompe-l'oeil was coined by the artist Louis-Léopold Boilly in 1800, but the technique itself is far older. Trompe-l'oeil was a popular interior design trick in the Roman Empire and likely before, was used as a framing device for frescos in the Italian Renaissance, and was arguably perfected in the 17th century by the Dutch artist .