As well as accuracy in shape, light and colour, Roman paintings show an unscientific but effective knowledge of representing distant objects smaller than closer ones, and representing regular geometric forms such as the roof and walls of a room with perspective. Pliny the Elder's famous story of birds pecking at grapes painted by Zeuxis in the 5th century BC may well be a legend, but indicates the aspiration of Greek painting. No original works on panels or walls by the great Greek painters survive, but from literary accounts, and the surviving corpus of derivative works (mostly Graeco-Roman works in mosaic) it is clear that illusionism was highly valued in painting. Ancient Greek art is commonly recognised as having made great progress in the representation of anatomy, and has remained an influential model ever since. The Art of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe achieved remarkably lifelike depictions of beasts, and Ancient Egyptian art developed conventions involving both stylization and idealization that nevertheless allowed very effective depictions to be produced very widely and consistently. It includes elements such as the accurate depiction of the anatomy of humans and beasts, of perspective and effects of distance, and of detailed effects of light and colour. The development of increasingly accurate representation of the visual appearances of things has a long history in art. Lord Leighton's Cimabue's Madonna Carried in Procession of 1853-1855 is at the end of a long tradition of illusionism in painting, but is not Realist in the sense of Courbet's work of the same period.

Other forms, such as the illusionistic tradition in the theatre, and Samuel van Hoogstraten's 'peepshow'-boxes from the seventeenth century, combine illusionistic techniques and media. Sculptural illusionism includes works, often painted, that appear real from a distance.

Illusionism encompasses a long history, from the deceptions of Zeuxis and Parrhasius to the works of muralist Richard Haas in the twentieth century, that includes trompe-l'Е“il, anamorphosis, optical art, abstract illusionism, and illusionistic ceiling painting techniques such as di sotto in sГ№ and quadratura. The term realist may be used in this sense, but that also has rather different meanings in art, as it is also used to cover the choice of ordinary everyday subject-matter, and avoiding idealizing subjects. Illusionism in art history means either the artistic tradition in which artists create a work of art that appears to share the physical space with the viewer or more broadly the attempt to represent physical appearances precisely вЂ“ also called mimesis. The stucco reliefs were executed by Ercole Antonio Raggi and Leonardo Reti, following the drawings of Baciccia who wanted to effect a real continuity between painting and sculpture.

The fresco is the work of Giovanni Battista Gaulli, known as Baciccia. The decorations of the vault over the nave date back to the 17th century. Triumph of the Name of Jesus, by Giovanni Battista Gaulli, on the ceiling of the Church of the Gesu.

Art of illusion descripcion