The term trompe l'oeil is French, meaning 'to deceive the eye' and pronounced Trump Loy.

Trompe l'Oeil is a style of painting that employes standard techniques used in realism.

Trompe l'Oeil is not to be confused with photo realism which creates a painted copy of a photograph.

Trompe l'Oeil uses paint to create the illusion of a three dimensional reality present with the viewer.

The artist seeks to deceive the viewrer into believing what they are looking at is really there,

a present 3 dimensional reality, not a painting or a photograph of what is depicted.
The technique of fooling the eye with a painted image is not new.

Murals found prserved under the ash of Vesuvias at Pompei depict exterior gardens