[1] The term comes from the French word faux, meaning false, as these techniques started as a form of replicating materials such as marble and wood with paint, but has subsequently come to encompass many other decorative finishes for walls and furniture including simulating recognisable textures and surfaces.
Great recognition was awarded to artists who could actually trick viewers into believing their work was the real thing.
The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, in discussing the work of house and decorative painters, describes a number of faux-finishes including marbleizing and graining.
[2] Faux painting has continued to be popular throughout the ages, but experienced major resurgences in the neoclassical revival of the nineteenth century and the Art Deco styles of the 1920s.
), many faux painting methods are thought to be simple enough for a beginning home owner to create with a little instruction.