Futility Closet

Trompe L’Oeil

Posted in Art, Oddities by Greg Ross on July 21st, 2007

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Sant%27Ignazio_-_painted_dome_-_antmoose.jpg

Designers wanted to put a dome on Rome’s Sant’Ignazio church, but neighbors complained of the shadow. So, instead, artist Andrea Pozzo painted this design on the flat ceiling.

When it’s viewed from the side (below), the church gets its dome after all.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Ignazio.jpg

(Images: Wikimedia Commons)