Brunelleschi and the Rediscovery of Linear Perspective Linear Perspective diagram
Before we look at painting in the Early Renaissance, we need to learn about one of the most important discoveries of the modern world, the rediscovery of linear perspective in 1420 by Brunelleschi (we say rediscovery, because the ancient Greeks and Romans knew it too, but knowledge of it had been lost in the Middle Ages). Linear perspective is a way of creating a convincing, perfect illusion of space on a flat, or two-dimensional surface. THINK ABOUT IT: THIS IS WHAT EVERY RENAISSANCE ARTIST WANTED: A WAY OF CREATING AN ILLUSION OF SPACE — ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF MAKING PAINTINGS LOOK REALISTIC! Here is a diagram of the main elements of linear perspective — a horizon line, a vanishing point, and orthogonals.

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When Brunelleschi rediscovered this in 1420, Florentine painters and sculptors became obsessed with it, especially after detailed instructions for using linear perspective were included in a painting manual written by a fellow Florentine, Leon Battista Alberti, in 1435.

John Berger, an art historian, notes that the convention of perspective fits within Renaissance Humanism because it ” it structured all images of reality to address a single spectator who, unlike God, could only be in one place at a time.” In other words, linear perspective eliminates the multiple viewpoints that we see in medieval art, and creates an illusion of space from a single, fixed viewpoint — and that suggests a focus on the individual viewer, and we know that individualism is an important part of the Humanism of the Renaissance.

The Study of Human Anatomy
As we can see from Donatello’s sculpture of David, the study of human anatomy was enormously important for Renaissance artists. In this, they continued where the ancient Greeks and Romans had left off. Once again, as in classical antiquity (ancient Greece and Rome) the human figure was considered beautiful.

Remember that in the Middle Ages, there was VERY LITTLE interest in the human body, which was seen as only a temporary vessel for the soul. The body was therefore not important at all. If anything, the body was seen as sinful, as the cause of temptation. In the Old Testament, Adam and Eve, after they eat the apple from the tree of knowledge, realize that they are naked and cover themselves. So nakedness, and the body generally in the Middle Ages, is associated in Christianity with temptation and sin and the FALL of man.

The best way to learn human anatomy is not just to look at the outside of the body of course, but to study the insides (ick)! Dissections if the human body were performed in the Renaissance, although they were rare because of church prohibitions. Renaissance artists performed dissections and were anxious to learn about the body, and gain the knowledge which would allow them to show the body in many different positions. The human body in the Renaissance was the most beautiful thing to paint, and also something that was a reflection of God.

Scientific Naturalism and the Changing Status of the Artist
We have seen how the artists of the Early Renaissance use scientific tools (like linear pespective and the study of anatomy, and we’ll also see they used geometry) to make their art more naturalistic.When artists use science to make their art more naturalistic, we call this Scientific Naturalism.

This scientific naturalism allows artists in the Early Renaissance to begin to demand that society think of them as more than just skilled manual laborers. Their work — because it is based on science and math — happens with their brains just as much as with their hands, and they therefore argued that they should be considered the same status as intellectuals and philosophers. Remember that during the Middle Ages, artists were only considered as skilled craftsman (for instance, painters were in the same guild as pharmacists, because both grind and mix things), and so they are demanding quite a change!

Links:
The Artist’s Life