31,000 BC - Rock Paintings, the earliest painted images still extant discovered in the Chauvet and Cosquer caves in France.

15,000 BC - Fresco wall murals is the cave paintings found at Lascaux in southwestern France.

3,000 BC - Egyptian pyramids decorated with painting, above is the wall painting of Queen Nefertari.



1,500 BC - Minoan Dolphin Fresco at the "Queen's Megaron" at Knossos, Greece.

400 BC - Greek artists Zeuxis and Parrhasios. Zeuxis paints a still life of grapes. The quality of this painting is attested to by the fact that some birds descend upon the painting and try to peck at it. Nothing is said as to whether this representation gives the visual illusion of grapes. Nevertheless, after the birds peck at his painting, Zeuxis quickly turns to Parrhasios, believing that victory is his, a fait accompli, and asks Parrhasios to unveil his painting. Parrhasios' painting is a painting of a veil. Again, no mention is made of the illusionistic quality of the painting. Rather, Parrhasios wins because his painting fools the eye of an artist, whereas Zeuxis' painting merely fools the eye of an animal.

100 BC - Fresco murals from Pompeii. These artists were some of the first to employ the use of trompe l'oeil perspective in their paintings.

477 – 495 AD - fresco painted on Sigiriya Rock, Sigiriya, Sri Lanka.

100-700 AD - Teotihuacan fresco of priest planting seeds as a ritual of fertility.

900-1212 AD - Kerala murals of Tamil Nadu, India