Daphne du Maurier Mural in St Austell

The China Cafe trompe l'œil Mural in St Austell

There is a fabulous trompe l'oeil mural on a building at the junction of Trinity Street and Truro Road in St Austell, Cornwall.  It has been there since October 2009, so we thought it was high time we told you about it!

The artwork features people of local and international importance who were born in or lived in St Austell and its surrounding areas, including our very own author, Daphne du Maurier, and one of her West Highland terriers.

In the mural, the featured people are mainly seated at a fictional China Café, with Daphne standing on the balcony of a higher window.  Among the diners at the café are Nigel Martyn (Former England Goalkeeper), Jemma Simpson (Olympic Athlete), Richard Sharp (England Rugby Player), Beatrice Rogers (First Female Deaconess in the Methodist Church), Rosemary Cobbold Sawle (local benefactor and the last of the Sawle family), AL Rowse (Historian and Poet), Walter Hicks (Founder of St Austell Brewery), Silvanus Trevail (Architect), William Cookworthy (Discoverer of China Clay in Cornwall), John Nettles (Actor), Bishop Colenso (First Anglican Bishop of Natal), Captain Percy Phillips (Founder of the Cornwall Aviation Company) and Jack Clemo (Writer and Poet).

Trompe l'oeil translates from the French as "deceive the eye."  It is an artistic technique that makes painted objects or architectural elements appear real and three-dimensional on a two-dimensional surface.  Unlike general realism, which aims to impress with lifelike depiction, trompe l'oeil seeks to convince viewers that the painted elements are physically present, often prompting them to reach out or step back in surprise.

Janet Shearer, a world-renowned trompe l'oeil artist, originally painted this mural.  Her work was painted at a quarter scale.  It was then photographed, scaled up and printed onto aluminium sheets to cover the gable end of the building.  The finished work measures 10 metres high by 9.5 metres wide.  

Parc Signs carried out the printing and installation works. 

The mural was unveiled at the end of October 2009 and formally opened by Dame Annette Egerton, former leader of Restormel Borough Council.

If you are in the St Austell area, do go and have a look at the mural.  It is an incredible piece of art, and the more you look at it, the more you see!


Ann Willmore, September 2026.

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