ceiling and sky murals

Painted ceiling murals and sky murals provide an excellent way to add a suggestion of height to a room and provide a sense of the extraordinary. We undertake work for architects, interior designers, corporate and private clients.

ceiling mural images

ceiling with trompe l'oeil architecture Ceiling mural architecture

hand painted mural of sky in baroque style Ceiling mural baroque sky

acanthus leaves and flowers painted ornament in panel Ceiling mural lunette panel

sky and clouds painted ceiling in circular recess Modern sky ceiling mural

a clouded sky with trellis and rambling vine Sky mural clouds trellis

painted red ribbon tied in a bow to a fruit festoon Ceiling mural on canvas

a grisaille cherub hangs from fruit swag Ceiling mural cherubs

clouds recceding towards the sun in blue sky Sky ceiling mural clouds

sky murals in use

The painted illusion of a sky ceiling works due to both subliminal thematic suggestion and the virtue of blue acting as receding colour.
Skillful development of the painted sky in the hands of a muralist enriches and deepens the sense of space we feel upon entering a room. It is the role of the mural artist to create the impression of light, space and movement, form a focal point and, as often as not, a conversation point. This is a traditional theme, however it can be usefully incorporated in the modern interior as well.

ceiling murals in use

Trompe l'oeil illusionistic painting of ceiling architecture and mouldings can be used to support both sky murals and ceiling murals, although for reasons of perspectival integrity this is best suited to an already elevated ceiling unless the illusory elements being depicted are of shallow depth. Already high ceilings can accommodate more elaborate illusionistic painted effects, either in support of painted sky murals or as ceiling mural designs within themselves. Mural artist are skilled in the use of perspectival renderings and trompe l'oeil effects which both compliment the extant architecture and render the imaginary space in a realistic manner.

sky and ceiling murals history

This is a traditional theme having its zenith in the Baroque and Rococo periods. It was common practice to paint ceilings blue with a smattering of stars in ecclesiastical buildings from the middle ages on. However, the first self conscious use of perspective as an illusionistic devise for ceiling murals is probably that of Mantegna in the Palazzo Ducale in the early Renaissance. This type of treatment reached its apogee several centuries later with the theatricality of the Baroque. The tradition of the artistically painted ceiling continued through the Rococo and Neoclassical periods, and continues today in order to provide the painted illusion of light and space being above us.