vanishing point Linear perspective Renaissance Painting

Vanishing Point

Linear perspective was invented during the Renaissance. The Renaissance was the most important era in the history of Western art. Leon Battista Alberti published a linear perspective mathematical formula in his book Della Pittura. Linear perspective is the idea that converging lines will meet at a vanishing point in the painting. This formula helped create the illusion of three-dimensional space in a two-dimensional format. Painters began creating art-works that had realistic depth and receding elements. Linear perspective was one of the most important innovations in the history of art. Alberti asserted "The Arts are learnt by reason and method; they are mastered by practice."

The Annunciation c. 1485 by Botticelli One of the Greatest Painters Of All Time

Charles Baudelaire stated, "The whole visible universe is but a storehouse of images and signs to which the imagination will give a relative place and value; it is a sort of pasture which the imagination must digest and transform." Byzantine, Gothic and Renaissance Art are rich in philosophical and Christian symbolism. Narrative paintings, with their layer upon layers of readily understood symbolic meaning, provided instruction to the uneducated commoners that yearned for scriptural understanding. Paintings were used as guides that helped illuminate the divine mysteries of Church doctrine.

The Meaning of Sacred Symbols in Paintings. Most prominently featured symbols and their meaning:

Mythological Creatures

Architectural Elements

Clothing and Accessories

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Important Words, People, Phrases, Characteristics related to the Italian Renaissance Art Movement - rebirth, rediscovery of the classical world, City-state, Humanism, Humanist, Francesco Petrarch, Reform, The Prince, Theocracy, The Inquisition, Human Reasoning, Medici Academy, publication of Della Pittura, a book about the laws of mathematical perspective for artists, sfumato, chiaroscuro, linear perspective, Heliocentric Theory, Petrarch, Baldassare Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier, liberal arts, civic humanism, Verrocchio, secularism, Leonardo Bruni, Lorenzo Valla, Neo-Platonism, nominalism, Giotto, Masaccio, Botticelli, Quattrocento, vanishing point, Savonarola, oligarchy, spiritually significant, illuminated manuscript, idealized biblical themes, scriptorium, emotion, illuminator, iconoclast, Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci, Age of Discovery, axonometric drawing, curiosity about the natural world, mythology, realistic use of colours and light, Bonfire of the Vanities, Old Testament stories, ethereal and foggy backgrounds, Gospel parables, The Blackdeath, romanticized landscapes, Christian symbolism. Paradise

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