Fooling the Eyes: <i>Trompe L'Oeil</i> and Reverse Perspective

Abstract

Trompe l'oeil pictures have been produced for hundreds of years. They attempt to create the impression of a surface that has different three-dimensional structure to the work; successful examples of trompe l'oeil typically constrain the observer's viewpoint and require use of a single eye. The works of Patrick Hughes are in relief but are painted to appear like conventional flat pictures; those parts that protrude from the picture plane are pictorially distant, or in reverse perspective. Movements of the observer result in fluid distortions of the pictorial image. These distortions occur with binocular observation and over a wide range of viewing distances.