Renaissance Painting - Main Features
The Renaissance is a cultural and artistic phenomenon that arises in Italy and develops in the beginning of the Modern Age, covering the XV and XVI centuries. With him, the principles that were given in Classical Antiquity will be retaken, through humanism without renouncing to the Christian tradition, but substituting medieval religious omnipresence for the affirmation of man and of the world. Next, in this lesson from a TEACHER, we will see, referring to the world of art, the main characteristics of Renaissance painting to better know this period.
There are several characteristics of renaissance painting that makes us differentiate it from its precedent, medieval painting and are the following:
Perspective Mastery
The main innovation of Renaissance painting is the perspective mastery, a perspective that was already foreshadowed in the Gothic with the figure of Giotto in the thirteenth century, however, we have to wait until the fifteenth century for there to be a true use of it.
The great writer of Renaissance painting Piero della Francesca in his work “
From prospective pigendi”Refers to two concepts of perspectives that were to occur during the Renaissance, it is, on the one hand, the linear perspective, made on a two-dimensional surface based on lines and drawings that converge at the same point in order to focus the view on it, capturing the distance.On the other hand, there is the perspective area where to what we have previously commented, light is attached to the drawing by applying a gradation to the color. Both in one and the other the purpose is the same, to show a sense of depth, making a three-dimensional representation possible in the painting.
The composition of the works
The composition, that is, the ordering of all the elements that make up the table, is structured according to geometric symmetry schemes, closely related to the issue of perspective.
The light and color of Renaissance painting
Light will be another of the components to be studied in Renaissance painting, since through it it contributes to give volume, with the play of light and shadow.
The color will be another of the variety within Renaissance painting. Over time we have seen that little by little it has evolved because while in the Romanesque we saw monochrome colors, already in the Gothic nuances and gradations begin to be given until reaching their maximum precision at this time, giving the painting an appearance sculptural.
The theme of the painting will range from religious themes, with the representation of the life of Christ, Saints, with images from the Old Testament and the representation of the Virgins, as the Madonnas. They will also be represented mythological themes and the portrait, almost always in a small format.
We will also see representations of the human body, being of great interest those in which main theme was the nude, for which the anatomy will be carefully copied and studied looking for the idea of the perfect canon as it was in antiquity.
The landscape and nature will not appear as the main subject but will appear as a backdrop for the paintings, as well as architectural scenes creating an environment on which to represent the human figure, also serving to give depth to the painting.
Although initially the most used techniques were fresh and tempered, now in the Renaissance we see that painting will acquire tactile values, to which it will contribute a lot the oil technique. Regarding the supports, we see that altarpieces will continue to be painted on the wall, although the latter with the appearance of oil disappears in favor of canvases and easel paintings.
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