Ceramics 1
Ceramics 1
Unity-Principle of Design
Unity-Principle of Design
Unity-Principle of Design
Unity-Principle of Design
Unity-Principle of Design
Unity-Principle of Design
Line- Element of Art
Line- Element of Art
Classwork & assignments
Presentation slideshow
Presentation slideshow
Classwork & assignments
Classwork & assignments
Lines are everywhere. You can see lines in the grain of a piece of wood or in the cracks on a sidewalk.
In art, Line is an element of art that is the path of a moving point through space.
Lines are used to:
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Create boundaries between shapes
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Create boundaries between colors, textures or values
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Lead the eye from one space to another
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Create textures
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Suggest emotional qualities
Lines are everywhere. You can see lines in the grain of a piece of wood or in the cracks on a sidewalk.
In art, Line is an element of art that is the path of a moving point through space.
Lines are used to:
-
Create boundaries between shapes
-
Create boundaries between colors, textures or values
-
Lead the eye from one space to another
-
Create textures
-
Suggest emotional qualities
Classwork & assignments
Grid drawing is a very old technique of transferring images (from sketches to a full size canvas or fresco, etc...)
Always make sure that the number of squares on the original picture and your working area are exactly the same (even if the size of the squares are bigger on the paper). This is because no matter how many times bigger (or smaller) you make the drawing, the proportions and dimensions can only stay the same if the number of boxes (squares) matches exactly.
Make sure you follow all steps below.
2.3.2 The Van Eycks and Rogier van der Weyden
You are studying what many consider the most important and influential period of art in history. Because it's so famous, you've probably heard it mentioned a few times before.
Questions
Read the questions below.
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What comes to mind when you hear the word Renaissance? Do you already know anything about this art period?
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If an artist is interested in studying math and science, why might that artist also want to use perspective in his or her paintings?
Complete the questions on your study guide as you work through this activity. Reviewing your notes before quizzes and tests will help you succeed. You'll be able to check your answers once you've completed the study activity.
You may remember this 1481 painting, Christ Handing the Keys to Saint Peter, by Renaissance master Pietro Perugino from an earlier unit. Do you remember the principles of perspective it illustrates?
Birth of Perspective
Think back to the first thing you learned in this course. Remember perspective? Remember how important it is in creating realistic paintings? Remember who we have to thank for the modern system of perspective?
If you guessed "the Renaissance masters," nice work.
It’s time to review the system of perspective and the artists who created and mastered it, and then take an in-depth look at the environment that cultivated the knowledge needed for such artistic styles.
Before moving on to the influential Renaissance masters like Leonardo da Vinci, you'll first pay homage to the three artists who started it all.
Why Perspective?
Before the Renaissance, there were many skilled artists who could have mastered perspective. Why didn't they?
Since creating realistic art wasn't a primary goal before the Renaissance, artists didn't need to use perspective or create the illusion of depth.
So why did the artists of the Renaissance embrace perspective?
In a word: Humanism.
Humanists wanted to understand how things worked. They wanted to approach the world from a rational point of view. (Rational means "based in reason.") So, Humanist studies focused on the earthly world rather than on popular medieval topics such as angels and the devil.
Artists became well-rounded "Renaissance men" who studied not just the arts, but philosophy, math, and science as well. As a result of Humanistic tendencies, there was an increased desire to portray realistic subjects and spaces in art.
In order to achieve this heightened sense of reality, new techniques had to be developed, and techniques that were already being developed had to be mastered.
Alberti and Brunelleschi: Renaissance Men
Because the fields of mathematics, science, philosophy, and art were becoming so intertwined, many of the people who had an impact on the art world were not, in fact, artists.
While neither of the men discussed next created great bodies of artistic work — one was primarily a mathematician and writer, the other an architect — they were both "Renaissance men" who studied and worked in many different fields, including the arts.
They were both an important part of the artistic developments that characterize the Renaissance.
Leone Battista Alberti
Leon Battista Alberti was born in Florence in 1404. He would become a great Renaissance man and Humanist with vast knowledge of a range of studies, especially math and the arts.
Alberti changed the philosophy behind art-making. His famous book On Painting introduced the idea that art should study and imitate nature, and that in order to be a truly beautiful work, it must be done in perfect proportion and perspective.
This concept became the driving force behind Renaissance artists' fixation on accurately painting the real world.
Filippo Brunelleschi
Alberti dedicated his work On Painting to a man he greatly admired and to whom he owed his ideas on geometric perspective: Filippo Brunelleschi.
Brunelleschi was an architect and engineer who transitioned from medieval styles to the Classical styles of the Renaissance.
As an architect, Brunelleschi was constantly sketching and painting ideas. These experiments led to what most consider the first successful work of mathematically correct linear perspective.
Brunelleschi's method for achieving accurate linear perspective involved drilling holes through wooden panels and looking through the holes at his subjects. You don't need to know the details of this process. Just know that this mathematical approach to linear perspective allowed artists to achieve depth in the most realistic way possible.
The contributions that Alberti and Brunelleschi made connected philosophy, mathematics, science, and art. These kinds of connections became the cornerstone of the Renaissance.
This sketch by Leonardo da Vinci shows a mathematical study of shadows, one of the many elements involved in creating accurate perspective.
Brunelleschi designed the Pazzi Chapel, built in Florence between 1441 and 1460, in the Classical Renaissance style. He died before its completion, but its perfect geometrical measurements are his doing.
Linear perspective isn't usually drawn out for you like this, but if you know what you're looking for, it doesn't matter.
Reviewing Perspective
Here is a quick review of the system of perspective that the Renaissance greats came up with.
To create linear perspective, an artist first draws a horizon line. This line helps ensure accurate perspective. It also divides the viewer's vision.
Once the horizon line is drawn, the artist arranges the perspective around one or more vanishing points on this line.
Then the artist creates a series of perspective lines that converge on the vanishing point. These serve as guidelines for how to arrange the rest of the painting.
Although he died at the young age of 27, Masaccio was an important artist during the Humanist movement of the Renaissance. This self-portrait is a detail from a much larger painting, completed around 1422, six years before he died.
Renaissance Naturalism
Using the ideas set forth by Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti, Masaccio was one of the first people to use mathematical perspective in the art he created.
Masaccio took the natural painting style pioneered by Giotto and combined it with the new techniques of his day.
Masaccio was crucial in the development of Humanist ideas. He would eventually be considered the first true Renaissance artist.
While Humanism marked a break from the traditional ways of depicting figures, especially religious ones, artists who worked in this style were still hired by the church. Starting with Masaccio, they began to portray Christian themes and scenes with an increased sense of realism.
This realistic approach to traditional subject matter using mathematical techniques was founded by Masaccio and is called Renaissance Naturalism.
Check Your Understanding
Masaccio's Transition
Renaissance Naturalism was greatly influenced by a renewed interest in Greco-Roman and Classical styles of art. But Masaccio did not always work in this style.
His triptych at San Giovenale, completed in 1422, shows the influence of the International Gothic style in the graceful figures and in the skewed perspective of the throne.
His Madonna and Child with Four Angels, painted only four years later, is a true Renaissance Naturalist painting. It marks a definitive break with medieval tradition.
Both works have the same theme and basically the same structure. So what made these two Madonna paintings so different?
1)Look at the Virgin's chair in each painting. It is clear that Masaccio is attempting to create depth in both. To see the art in greater detail, click the icon to the right. In which painting does he achieve a greater sense of depth?
2)What technique does he use to create this sense of depth?
3)Look at the Virgin's clothing. Give a brief description of her robes in each painting. Which one do you think is more realistic and why?
4) How is the posture and positioning of the figures different in each painting?
Painting by Masaccio called Trinity, painted around 1425
Masaccio's Trinity is a masterpiece in perspective. According to art historian Giorgio Vasari, Masaccio foreshortened the chamber's ceiling "so well that there seems to be a hole in the wall."
What Do You See?
Look at the painting by Masaccio called Trinity, painted around 1425. Then, answer the questions below.
1) Look at the painting and describe it in a few sentences.
2) Describe the architectural space around Jesus. What do you notice?
3) What do you notice about the viewpoint of the painting? (Hint: Where does it make you feel as if you are?
4) Look at the skeleton. Why do you think Masaccio put it there?
Perspective in Trinity
Masaccio's Trinity (ca. 1425 – 1428) is a fresco in the Santa Maria Novella Church in Florence. This is a prime example of linear perspective in his work.
The careful use of perspective seems to carve a space in the wall on which it is hung, making it appear as though the room continues beyond the scene.
This is called a trompe l'oeil or "trick of the eye." The eye is fooled into thinking that the painting is an extension of the room.
Trinity depicts Jesus on the cross, a commonly painted subject. But it was an exercise in creating the illusion of space that no one had ever tried before.
Masaccio also used foreshortening on his figures, another technique to create accurate perspective.
Finally, the painting is ever-so-slightly created from a "worm's-eye view" — that is, as someone standing below the painting would see its subjects.
Because Masaccio understood perspective so well, he was able to create the illusion of space using all sorts of views.
Seeing the Light
Although he is mostly known for his use of perspective, Masaccio was a talented artist who used many techniques to create lifelike three-dimensional figures. Another way in which Masaccio mastered the art of depth was through his use of light.
Masaccio's objects are lit by one consistent light source. He was able to mimic the sun's effects, which make his paintings look more realistic.
Look at the panel painting to the left. Notice that the shadows on each figure's face are on the right side. That means the light source is coming from the left, illuminating the features to the left while casting shadows to the right. To see the art in greater detail, click the icon to the right.
Masaccio's work is even more extraordinary for the fact that he painted using tempera and not oil paint. Unlike the new oil paints used by the Flemish artists around this time, tempera make the details much harder to render because the paint dries so quickly.
This portrait of the Madonna and Christ child, completed in 1425, illustrates Masaccio's use of a single light source.
The Brancacci Chapel and Tribute Money
Masaccio's most renowned and studied works are the Brancacci Chapel frescoes, executed between 1425 and 1428. Among these, Tribute Money is considered his masterpiece.
In Tribute Money, Masaccio uses all of the techniques in perspective and lighting that we just discussed.
This painting, done in three separate scenes within the same frame, tells a story of Jesus and his apostles. Click the icon to the right to learn more.
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His use of single-point perspective is precise, with perspective lines merging on Jesus's head, specifically created as the vanishing point.
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Each face is unique and carefully modeled to show bone structure, a difficult feat using tempera paint.
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In keeping with the era's renewed fascination with the Classical world, Masaccio painted everyone in simple Greek and Roman dress, except for the tax collector, who is dressed like a Florentine gentleman.
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As in his 1426 Madonna and Child, Masaccio uses light from a single source to make the figures appear fully three-dimensional. The folds of the drapery are carefully shaded to illustrate this consistency in light source.
Dark and Stormy Night
There is something else going on in this painting. Check out the clouds and dark sky in the background.
Rather than making a calm sky or paying no attention to the landscape whatsoever, Masaccio deliberately added drama to the piece by creating a stormy background.
From the Brancacci Chapel, painted between 1425 and 1428, Tribute Money illustrates Masaccio's mastery of light and depth.
Compare the Views
There is an important feature that distinguishes the Brancacci Chapel frescoes by Masaccio from the works of his contemporaries, such as the Mérode Altarpiece, painted in 1425 by Robert Campin.
compare Tribute Money to the Mérode Altarpiece. Can you see what's so different?
Compare Campin to Masaccio
Question
1) Masaccio and Campin were alive and creating art at the same time. They were both influenced by Giotto, but there is one major difference between these two artists. What is that difference?
2) How did the Mérode Altarpiece stand out in its own time?
3) What is missing from the Mérode Altarpiece that Masaccio accomplished in Tribute Money?
4) Name three ways in which Masaccio created depth in Tribute Money.
5) What do you notice about the viewpoint of each painting?
During the half century after Masaccio died, other Florentine artists practiced and perfected the Renaissance Naturalism techniques he had pioneered.
Check Your Understanding
In Review
Before moving on, review what you have learned in the study. Go over the notes you wrote on the study sheet. Ask your teacher any questions you might have.
If you have not filled out your study sheet, do it now before moving on to the next activity.
Study sheets are a very useful tool to help you study for quizzes and tests.
What Did You Learn?
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A new interest in Humanism prompted the exploration of people's ability to act as rational beings.
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Artists sought to be well-rounded "Renaissance men," exploring literature, science, and mathematics in addition to art.
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There was an emphasis on realistic depictions of people and places.
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Leon Batista Alberti introduced the idea that in order for art to be truly beautiful, it must be done in perfect proportion. He said that art should study and imitate life.
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Architect and engineer Filippo Brunelleschi developed a method for achieving mathematically correct linear perspective.
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Masaccio was the first artist to use the techniques developed by Brunelleschi to portray three-dimensional spaces using linear perspective.
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The Brancacci Chapel frescoes are an example of Renaissance Naturalism, a style pioneered by Masaccio.
Take this opportunity to check your work.