Byzantine “perspective”—reverse perspective

•reverse perspective: parallel lines appear to diverge instead of converge•the Byzantines did not conceive of pictorial space the way the Romans had—as a view of the natural world seen through a “window”•in the Byzantine aesthetic theory, invisible rays of sight joined the eye and image so that the pictorial space extended forward from the picture plane to the eye of the beholder and included the real space between them

Empress Theodora and Her Attendants c. 547

mosaic on the south wall of the apse, Church of San Vitale, Ravenna Italy

Medieval “Perspective”How artists tried to create pictorial space or a sense of depth before

Filippo Brunelleschi “rediscovered” linear perspective in about 1420.•pictorial elements are stacked on top of each other to create a sense of space or depth—look for rows of people or angels•thrones are often used to occupy space and create depth—angels and saints are often set up in rows alongside the throne’s sides•rocks or rocky hills angle across the pictorial frame and become slightly smaller to create sense of depth

Feeding the Pigs with Acornsc. 1180Illumination on parchmentKoninklijke Bibliotheek, Den Haag

Page with Christ in MajestyBook of Mark, Godescalc Evangelistary781-783ink, gold, colors on vellum

Note the influence of a Roman visual vocabulary on this representation of Christ in Majesty.What is Christ doing?Why does the wall behind Christ represent?On what is Christ sitting?What is Christ holding--probably?What does the “strange” wide-eyed stare signify?

Multiplication of the Loaves from Magdeburg Ivories962-968

Death of the Virgin

a detail from

Duccio’s

Maesta Altarpiece

1308-1311

Siena

Duccio

Maesta Altarpiece

1308-1311

Siena

The Visitation

Giotto di BondoneArena Chapel Padua, Italyfor the Scrovegni family c. 1304-1313

The Kiss of Judas

Giotto di BondoneArena Chapel Padua, Italyfor the Scrovegni family c. 1304-1313

Lamentation (The Pieta)

Giotto di BondoneArena Chapel Padua, Italyfor the Scrovegni family c. 1304-1313

February

Limbourg Brothers(Paul, Herman, Jean)Tres Riches Heures 1413-1416

December

Limbourg Brothers(Paul, Herman, Jean)Tres Riches Heures 1413-1416

Mary of Burgundy Painterpage with Mary at her DevotionsHours of Mary of Burgundy1482

Hour of CowdustPunjab Hills, IndiaMughal period c.1790gouache on paper

Panoramic Perspective

•No such comprehensive panorama of the natural world and its human inhabitants is know to us from the entire previous history of art.•No single point of view (he is a medieval painter)—the artist instead wants to show the viewer as much as he possibly can of the landscape.•To understand this view, what is necessary?

detail: Effects of Good Government in the CountrysideAmbrogio Lorenzetti Allegory of the Good Government1338-40 fresco Palazzo Pubblico, Siena

Mathematical PerspectiveLinear Perspective

One-Point Perspective

•Humanist belief that “man is the measure of all things” altered the perspective used in works of art.

•A man’s eye view began to replace a God’s eye view.

•First demonstrated by Filippo Brunelleschi about 1420

•A mathematical system for representing three-dimensional objects and space on a two-dimensional surface by means of intersecting lines that are drawn vertically and horizontally and that radiate from one point (one-point perspective), two points (two-point perspective), or several points on a horizon line as perceived by a viewer imagined in an arbitrarily fixed position.

•The picture’s surface is understood as a flat plane that intersects at a right angle with the viewer’s field of vision.

Paolo UccelloBernardino della Ciarda Thrown Off His Horse

1450sTempera on wood, 182 x 220 cmGalleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Paolo Uccello Miracle of the Desecrated Host (Scene 2)

1465-69Panel, 43 x 58 cm

Paolo Uccello St. George and the Dragon

c. 1456Oil on canvas, 57 x 73 cmNational Gallery, London

Paolo UccelloThe Hunt in the Forest

1460sTempera on wood, 65 x 165 cmAshmolean Museum, Oxford

Paolo UccelloFunerary Monument to Sir John Hawkwood1436Fresco, Duomo, Florence

DonatelloHerod'sBanquet1427bronzeBaptistery,Siena

Trinity 1425-28Fresco, 667 x 317 cmSanta Maria Novella, Florence

Intuitive Perspectiveand

Atmospheric Perspective

Intuitive perspective is when an artist makes objects in the background smaller than objects in the foreground to visually signal that these objects are further away.

Atmospheric perspective is when an artist softens or blurs the edges of objects in the extreme distance to imitate atmospheric effects—moisture in the air. The artist will also give these same objects a bluish tinge.

 

Arrival in Basel (scene #2)

from the Martyrdom of St. UrsulareliquaryHans Memling1489

The Corn Harvest (August) Pieter Bruegel the Elder 1565

Hunters in the Snow (January) Pieter Bruegel the Elder c. 1565