The theatrical character of the Baroque and its imitative inclination allowed painting to compete with architecture in the field of illusionist painting. The art of quadratura developed for the sake of more dazzling and persuasive visual spectacles and spiritual experiences. Elaborate foreshortenings of painted architecture, carefully designed and created to enhance real architectural space, developed the quattrocento (15th-century) concept known as di sotto in sù, (lit. seen from below), which was first introduced by Melozzo da Forli and Andrea Mantegna. Optical illusion was inherent not only to painting, but “is in fact amongst the most characteristic devices of Baroque architecture” as well. (Pevsner, 1943).