{"id":51808,"date":"2024-07-17T11:20:33","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T09:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/?p=51808"},"modified":"2025-12-11T23:45:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T22:45:12","slug":"architecture-and-art-playing-tricks-on-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/2024\/07\/architecture-and-art-playing-tricks-on-eyes\/","title":{"rendered":"Architecture and art: playing tricks on our eyes"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you position yourself next to the Fuente de los Caballos (Fountain of the Horses) in Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and rotate a full 360 degrees, you’ll see the southern fa\u00e7ade of Santiago Cathedral, the stairs leading up to the Quintana, the Casa del Cabildo (Guildhall House) and the Casa del De\u00e1n (Dean’s House). In this square, named after the Silversmiths’ (Plater\u00edas) workshops that occupied it in the Middle Ages, it’s as though every element of a puzzle fits together in perfect harmony<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The trick of the eye could only be discerned<\/strong> by an expert (or someone equally well-informed): the fa\u00e7ade of the Casa del Cabildo is just that. A fa\u00e7ade. Built in the latter half of the eighteenth century for purely ornamental purposes, the house is in fact barely three meters deep. It is nothing more than a backdrop<\/a>; a Baroque design intended to decorate the Plaza de Plater\u00edas.<\/p>\n

The history of art and architecture is littered with examples of tricks intended to alter our perception and make us see things that really don’t exist. Trompe l’oeils<\/strong> are another fine example, harnessing the powers of perspective to create an illusion.<\/p>\n

The history behind trompe l’oeils<\/h2>\n

The French term ‘trompe l’oeil’ is art-world jargon, and literally translates as ‘a trick of the eye’. This illusionary art form involves creating a sense of volume and depth<\/strong> on what is in fact a flat surface, achieved through nothing more than paint. We may think of optical illusions as a fairly modern concept, but this play on perspectives to trick the eye date back thousands of years.<\/p>\n

One of the first references to a trompe l’oeil dates back to the fifth century BC and was written about by Pliny the Elder some 400 years later. As legend has it, two Greek painters<\/strong>\u2014Zeuxis and Parrhasius\u2014had both reached dizzying heights of fame and wanted to decide which of the two were more talented. Only a contest would settle the matter: the winner would be he who could paint the most realistic mural.<\/p>\n

Zeuxis impressed Parrhasius with a painting of grapes so realistic that birds came to peck away at the ‘fruit’. Convinced of his victory, Zeuxis asked his opponent to open the curtain<\/strong> to reveal his work. At that point, Parrhasius declared himself victorious. The curtain was not in fact real: it was nothing more than a painting on the wall. He claimed that while the grapes confused the birds, his curtain had successfully deceived Zeuxis himself.<\/p>\n

Like Parrhasius’ curtain, trompe l’oeils proliferated during the Classical period, above all in Pompeian-style murals. This idea of tricking the eye through volume and perspective made a comeback in the Renaissance and Baroque<\/strong> periods, a time when painting techniques were perfected.<\/p>\n

\"Trampantojo<\/p>\n

Trompe l’oeil at Calahorra Cathedral simulating a monk opening a shutter. Gato.Cuantico (Wikimedia Commons)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Throughout history, trompe l’oeils have been used to simulate columns, windows, moldings, cornices, vegetation and even people\u2014indoors and out. On some occasions, the elements are used to give balance to compositions, while in others, they simply serve to deceive, decorate, or create complicity<\/strong> between the artist and observers of their work.<\/p>\n

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Una publicaci\u00f3n compartida de Antonio Gonzalezmayo (@elarquitectodeinsta)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n