The artistic technique of trompe l'oeil has been used for centuries. There are examples of it found in the ruins of ancient Rome, including floor mosaics depicting what could be debris found scattered around after a feast but is actually crafted into the tiles by the skilled hand of an artist. There are several examples of such floor mosaics from the second or third centuries b.c. Pliny the Elder, a Roman writer from the first century a.d., tells a story about a competition between two Greek artists, Zeuxis and Parrhasios, who competed to show who could create the most realistic drawing. Zeuxis's painting of a cluster of grapes was so convincing that birds swooped down to peck at it, but he found himself bested when he tried to open the curtain to reveal Parrhasios's work only to find that the curtain that he was...