The location of an inconvenient roadway prevented an architect in 1477 from making a church in Milan as grand as he’d hoped — so he painted one of the earliest examples of trompe l’oeil in the history of art in a shallow niche that’s only a few feet deep.

 

Why he didn't instead use a smaller footprint for the church, and then have a nice deep cove behind the priests? 

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2018/09/30/the-mother-of-invention-2/

http://www.milanofotografo.it/englishSvagoCulturaDettagliBellezzeMilano.aspx?ID=21

trompe l’oeil is one of my favorite art forms