Saturday, April 28, 2018

Louvre Museum / Salon Denon / Charles-Louis Müller ceiling / Trompe L'oeil

Looking up at the very high ceiling you get the 12+ stops of light differential of dark walls juxtaposed with bright light streaming in from a sunny day. 

When I processed some shots I believed I was looking up at statues between the dormer style windows adorning the ceiling. I thought, how'd they do that? Put statues up there. But... Photographs represent 3D objects in 2D. You need shadow tones and highlights to separate flat from round. When an artist paints in shadow tones and highlights and does it in the right light, well, it masks the difference. Check out the photo below and look between the three dormer windows on the back ceiling. 3D. If you look to the side paintings left and right, the painted statue on the left looks pretty 3D. The one on the right looks flat and that clued me in that I was looking at a painting and not a statue. Great effect, Charles-Louis. Great effect...

AND, now I know there's a term for it: Trompe L'oeil (to trick the eye). Outstanding.

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