Trompe-l'œil
Trompe-l'œil is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist, instead of being mere, two-dimensional paintings.
The name is derived from French for "trick the eye", from tromper - to deceive and l'œil - the eye.
Sotto in su, meaning From below, upward in Italian, (also called di sotto in su) is a term for a type of trompe l'œil illusionism used in ceiling paintings to suggest receding perspectives. The elements above the viewer are rendered as if viewed from true vanishing point perspective. This technique was frequently employed in Italian frescoed ceiling paintings, particularly 17th-century Baroque works, in the style called Quadratura. Probably its first use was by Andrea Mantegna in the Camera degli Sposi in Mantua. Other notable examples are Antonio da Correggio's Assumption of the Virgin in the Duomo of Parma; Pietro da Cortona's Allegory of Divine Providence in the Palazzo Barberini; and Andrea Pozzo's Apotheosis of St Ignatius on the ceiling of the Roman church of Sant'Ignazio.
The interiors of Jesuit churches in the 16th and 17th-century mannerist and Baroque styles often include such trompe-l'œil ceiling paintings, which optically "open" the ceiling or dome to the heavens with a depiction of Jesus', Mary's, or a saint's ascension or assumption.
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