Download What made perspective so important to Renaissance artists

Julia Kohlenberger 1
Julia Kohlenberger
Beth La Cour
Art 261
9 March 2008
What made perspective so important to Renaissance artists? Discuss at least three examples.
Perspective was one of the most important aspects of Renaissance art. Masters such as
Massacio, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Leonardo da Vinci used it in most if not all of their works. It is
said that perspective was invented by Filippo Brunelleschi. However, it would probably be more
accurate to credit him with the rediscovery of it. Centuries before him, Plato claimed that
“measure is the basis of beauty” and indeed perspective in the Renaissance was based on
principles know by the Romans and ancient Greek before them (Gardner 458).
There were two main forms of perspective important in the Renaissance, linear
perspective and aerial perspective. In linear perspective, the artist first drew a horizontal line to
determine the horizon and then placed a vanishing point on the same line. All lines, drawn in
from this point on, were either parallel to the horizontal line or ran towards it. This kind of linear
perspective was called one-point perspective. A second variety that was done with two vanishing
points was called two-point perspective. Aerial perspective took into account that the further
away an object was, the less clear it became. Therefore, the artist would use softer colors, thinner
lines and less detail to depict background.
A good example of one-point perspective is Masaccio’s Trinity. In this fresco, the
vanishing point is located in the middle of the horizontal line and at eye level with the viewer.
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“Perspective sets up that symmetrical and reflexive relationship between the viewer and the
viewed” (Lock). With the help of linear perspective, Masaccio makes the viewer part of the
fresco and therefore part of the scene he or she is viewing. Also, the donors of the Trinity are
painted in a space between the actual scene and the viewer. One can see that the distance
between the holy subject and the viewer, which was prominent during the Middle Ages, has
slowly given place, to a more personal relationship between Christ and worshiper. Art seems to
move towards the integration of the onlooker.
Another fresco, in which linear perspective is used, is Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper.
“Leonardo da Vinci trained as a painter during the Renaissance and became a true master of the
craft” (Leonardo’s perspective). In contrast to Masaccio, he uses perspective to highlight the
figure of Christ. All perspective lines run towards Christ’s head which draws the viewer’s
attention to the figure.
Lorenzo Ghiberti shows the reader that perspective was not just used in frescoes and
paintings but also in sculpture. A good example are his Gates of Paradise which he created for
the Baptistery of Florence. “In his relief, Ghiberti created the illusion of space partly through the
use of pictorial perspective and partly by sculptural means” (Gardner 459). Ghiberti combines
linear perspective with traditional sculptural techniques. The panel of Isaac and His Sons, for
instance, has buildings that are done according to perspective rules but it also depicts high and
low relief according to the person’s position in the composition. Ghiberti achieved a closer
approximation to reality than was thought possible before. Commenting on his work, the artist
said, “I strove to imitate nature as closely as I could” (Gardner 459). In general, linear
perspective allowed Renaissance artists to achieve a closer resemblance to their true ideal, the
depiction of nature as it was in reality.
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In addition, a true master, of the depiction of nature, would also take into account aerial
perspective. Leonardo’s “understanding of perspective thus took in not only the light, but the air
it traveled through” (Wikipedia). In his oil painting Madonna and Child with Saint Anne, his use
of atmospheric perspective is clearly visible. The group in the foreground is rendered in much
darker colors than his soft colored background. Also, the outline of the figures is much clearer
than that of the mountains. Aerial perspective gives Leonardo the ability to come to an even
more realistic depiction of nature than linear perspective by itself.
Altogether, perspective in the Renaissance was of several uses for the artist. Foremost,
one would have to count the way perspective allowed for a better depiction of nature, the
Renaissance ideal, in works of art. Further, it could be used to emphasize what the artist wanted
his or her painting to project. The emphasis could be brought on the connection between the
viewer and the scene as in Masaccio’s Trinity or it could bring the focus on a certain part of the
painting, such as in Leonardo’s Last Supper.
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Works Cited
Kleiner, Fred and Christin Mamiya. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages. Belmont: Thomson
Wardsworth, 2006.
“Leonardo’s
Perspective”
Museum
of
Science.
8
March
2008.
<http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/LeonardosPerspective.html>.
Lock, Charles. “Perspectives on Perspective” SRB Review. 7 March 2008.
<http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/epc/srb/srb/perspectives.html>.
“Perspective
(graphical)”
Wikipedia.
7
March
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_(graphical)>.
Schneider Adams, Laurie. Art across Time. New York: McGrawHill, 2007.
2008.