The Illusion of Space During the Renaissance
Written By: Amayah Meas
During the 15th century, patron and artists’ appreciation for individual human intellect and achievements of the classic world heightened. People began to collect art for personal enjoyment, contributing to the increase in presence of patronage as a public activity. During this time, a new fascination of Renaissance painters was to present idealized figures (inspired by the Classical antiquity of the past) in a realistic manner throughout the space within a picture plane. Influenced by the societal value of scholarship, a new Renaissance perspective became the basis for art in Italy.
This “Renaissance perspective” is defined as achieving lifelike illusions of reality and idealized figures analytically using a system of linear perspective, where receding space is arranged in conformity and is posed to align with implied lines that would converge at a single vanishing point. In other words, this mathematical technique was used to represent three-dimensional figures in a two-dimensional space. Linear perspective revolutionized the art world by allowing artists to achieve such a concept, something new and fascinating to both artists and spectators. Masaccio's Trinity with the Virgin, St. John the Evangelist, and Donors is a well-known painting presenting figures that are measured in a specific progression using this technique that allows one to view it as if it were an extension of their own space. The hieratic scale of the piece also represents the order of social and life statuses with Christ at the top, the Virgin Mary & St. John following, and finally the donors at the bottom, showing how linear perspective can be used not only to depict three-dimensional space but also to acknowledge popular societal practices at the time.
Trinity with the Virgin, St. John the Evangelist, and Donors
Masaccio
c. 1425 – 1427
Fresco
Early Italian Renaissance
Nearly two centuries after mathematical perspective became widely adopted in Renaissance painting, the technique still remains relevant. Artists expanded on this concept by utilizing a view from the corner of a frame rather than the front, demonstrated by Tintoretto’s version of The Last Supper. Previously done by Andrea Del Castagno and Leonardo Da Vinci, Tintoretto reinterprets the same subject displayed from the corner of the space with a vanishing point in the upper far right, while also using different forms of luminosity and color (consistent with the Mannerist tendencies of the era) to reveal the figures. The orthogonals, or implied perpendicular (of the picture plane) lines, remain consistent with the analytical technique and is a nice example of its variations used to offer multiple perspectives of the same scene.
The Last Supper
Tintoretto
1592 - 1594
Oil on canvas
Italian Renaissance
Before artists could achieve linear perspective in art, the concept of space on a flat plane was depicted using a technique called intuitive perspective. Artists would present figures with decreasing size as they fade into the background to imply receding space in the distance, simply with the eye rather than mathematics. The Limbourg brothers demonstrate this well in the February page of Les Trés Riches Heures, showing a chilly winter scene. In the foreground, peasants seem to be enjoying the heat of a fire while others in the distance continue to work. The sky in the background depicts an atmospheric perspective as well, as the hues of blue are transitioned into one another to show the natural effects of the atmosphere on things in the distance. The largest figure appears to be the woman sitting closest to the front, clothed in an elegant garment implying she is not a peasant, reiterating the idea that perspective techniques are used to depict social statuses as well.
February: Life in the Country, Trés Riches Heures
Limbourg Brothers
1411 – 1416
Colors & ink on parchment
Early French Renaissance
From the early years of the Renaissance to the latter and beyond, artists use the concept of perspective to represent three-dimensional space on a flat picture plane. As time went on, advances in analytics/mathematics, a stronger appreciation for artistic patronage, and desire to depict figures more realistically contributed to various perspectives. Numerous artworks beautifully presented demonstrate each one, branching off the previous technique while aligning with the progression of societal ideals.
References
The holy trinity (1428). Holy Trinity, Masaccio: Interpretation, Analysis. Retrieved October 22, 2021, from http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-paintings/holy-trinity-masaccio.htm.
Khan Academy. Masaccio, Holy Trinity (article). Khan Academy. Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/early- renaissance1/painting-in-florence/a/masaccio-holy-trinity.
Il Tintoretto: The last supper. ArtBible.info. Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.artbible.info/art/large/353.html.
Khan Academy. Limbourg brothers, Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (article). Khan Academy. Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance- reformation/northern-renaissance1/limbourg-brothers/a/limbourg-brothers-trs-riches-heures.
Bolli, C. M., & Bolli, C. M. Limbourg brothers, Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. Smarthistory. Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://smarthistory.org/limbourg-brothers-tres-riches-heures- du-duc-de-berry/.
Marilyn, S. (2011). Art history: Fourteenth to Seventeenth Century art. Prentice Hall.
