Mitchells Presbyterian Church

This Gothic Revival church, built in 1879, contains an elaborate example of trompe-l’oeil fresco painting done in 1888. Joseph Dominick Phillip Oddenino, an Italian immigrant artist, painted to deceive the eye into believing that his plaster murals of Gothic arches, Renaissance-styled cornices, and embellished Corinthian columns were three dimensional. Oddenino decorated the ceilings at Mitchells Church and Hebron Lutheran Church in Madison with geometric designs.

Marker is on Mitchell Road (Virginia Route 652) 0 miles east of Hardy Lane (Virginia Route 651), on the left when traveling east.

Courtesy hmdb.org

Credits and Sources:

HMDB