Mural-style paintings date back deep into human history, perhaps beginning with paintings by people in their caves.

Ancient Egyptians decorated their tombs and temples with wall paintings, and Romans also painted their public buildings.

In Europe, the Baroque era from the 17th century brought a flourishing of mural paintings inside the huge interior spaces of churches and majestic palaces.

Many of today’s muralists prepare their work in studios to be shipped and assembled later at their ultimate destination.

That means American murals can end up in Japan, Dubai, Macau or any other locale that can afford it.

At the Evans & Brown studio, Evans does the initial research and design. In the case of the Dubai commission, he had to stay clear of depicting people, in keeping with Islamic tradition. One dome mural incorporates shell themes, another references Middle Eastern jewellery.

Murals can indeed cause political outrage. An Iranian mural of the assassin of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat has been an obstacle to full diplomatic relations between the two nations.

Brown then paints the initial full-size themes, and he and up to about a dozen others expand the images in their 84-foot long studio, where walls stretches as high as 16 feet.

“It’s like juggling plates on several poles,” Brown said of the complexity of organising such large projects. Many muralists easily imitate a wide variety of styles, from the Rococo flourishes of 18th-century Venetian Giovanni Battista Tiepolo to more modern 20th-century styles, leading some artists and art lovers to scoff at the work.

“The artwork that people do now is sort of like a diluted, washed-down version of it,” said Carlo Marchiori, an artist born near Venice now living in California’s Napa Valley.

“They have these sterile buildings, especially the big hotels and all that. They are immense areas,” he said with a audible sigh. “They do this — how do you call it — half-assed art. It’s formula art.” Despite such criticism, many muralists are anxious to get the big commissions, with the international market seen as particularly lucrative.

“It’s going to be shifting in that direction because of the market tightening up here in the US as people decide to cut back on spending,” said Garrett McCarthy, a Massachusetts-based muralist. McCarthy, 46, advertises his work on the Dubai section of Craigslist, an Internet bulletin board, and recently signed up Dubai-based Lateral Passages, an agency that promotes muralists.

Samira Hamida, who set up the company a year ago, described a growing appreciation for the work of American muralists even if Indians and others might be willing to work for less money.

“American muralists have years of experience in actually delivering high-quality, out-of-the-box sort of murals,” she said. “In our opinion, American muralists certainly lead in ways of skill and reliability, but that does not mean that European muralists are any less good.” The appeal is especially strong in Dubai where, like Las Vegas, large hotels are spending lots of money on large murals to build a modern city in the desert.—Reuters