The Lobby at the Battle House

Curated by Mike Stark, Renaissance Navigator

The paintings in the four corners of the lobby are depictions of four rulers of the countries which have flown their flags over Mobile. Louis XIV of France, George III of England, Ferdinand V of Spain and George Washington. The painting technique used to depict these rulers is called Trompe-l'œil. It is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist, instead of being just two-dimensional paintings. The name is derived from French for “trick the eye”, from tromper - to deceive and l'œil - the eye. The Lobby is done in a Beaux Art style, which blends classical elements of design with grandeur. This style was popular in the 1890’s.