THE COMMUNITY BRIDGE FULL OF MURALS - FREDERICK, MARYLAND

I had been told about the murals on a bridge in Frederick by a good friend of ours.  She and her husband visited Frederick some time ago. We have been thinking about this for a few months and last Wednesday, when the weather was mild and sunny, we decided it was time for a road trip.

The bridge is transformed by the painting technique of trompe l'oeil, meaning 'deceives the eye'.  It is described as a type of illusionistic painting characterized by its very precise naturalism. 

Those 'bricks' are not bricks at all.  The bridge is a blank canvas of plain concrete, and a very talented local artist, William Cochran, along with his team of other talented artists, created the Community Bridge.   The painting surface has 3,000 square feet with over 3,000 simulated stones. 

And then there are the symbols.  The bridge is painted with those that represent the many groups that live and work in Frederick.  Throughout the bridge there are symbols and stories contributed by thousands of people from all over the community, across the country and around the world.

In the following photo you will see The Unfound Door.

According to this website where I found the information for my post, 'the city of Frederick receives regular complaints from visitors excited about the mural project, but aghast that the city would allow ivy to grow across the priceless mural, unaware that the tendrils of ivy they saw climbing the painted stonework, were themselves part of the painted illusion.'

In the next photo you will see a very beautiful fountain.  

According to the website, several times birds have been observed attempting to alight on the fountain. 

My thanks to the website where I have found most of my information - link here - and a short history of this amazing painting technique.  

"As a painting style, trompe l'oeil has a history extending back as far as the Greek and Roman Empires, where horses are said to have neighed at a mural of horses they recognized.  The only ancient trompe l'oeil murals that survive today are those unearthed at Pompeii.

The famous art historian Vasari reports a story of a famous contest of antiquity held between two renowned painters to see who was the finest.  The first painter produced a still life so convincing that birds flew down from the sky to peck at the painted grapes.  The master then turned to his opponent in the triumph and said, "Draw back the curtains and reveal your painting."  The second painter knew then that he had won, because the 'curtains' were part of his painting.

Trompe l'oeil mural paintings resurfaced during the Renaissance and Baroque eras, and was used to extend churches and palaces by 'opening' the ceiling or a wall.  The muralists of the day - Andrea Mantegna, Paolo Uccello and Paolo Vernonese, among the most notable - experimented with perspective and found trompe l'oeil architecture to be their ally as they strove to paint what architect Leone Alberti called "a window into space."

In the mid to late 1800s in the United States, William Harnett revived trompe l'oeil still life easel painting, and his paintings are today acquired by major museums for millions of dollars.  A very labor intensive technique, trompe l'oeil fell out of favor after the industrial revolution when mass produced items became the rage.  There are few artists - and even fewer muralists - who execute this demanding style of art today."

I will have another post on these murals.