Street painting appeared first in the 16th century in Italy. The painters were called 'madonnari' and they painted pictures of well-known characters on the pavement.
In 1984, 3D pavement art was invented by the American, Kurt Venner. When you look at 3D pavement art from a certain place, it looks like it is 3D! A few years later, a TV documentary made Kurt and his work famous. He was asked to make 3D art for adverts, festivals and museums. This 3D pavement art wasn't done by Kurt, but Julian Beever, a British pavement artist.