World Art Study

Based on paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

We are going to look at a few examples of art and techniques used in art in order to teach us

more about the times we’ve studied

We are going to discuss the art of the Renaissance

let’s go over some art from the Renaissance

Perspective

In life, we look at many things in many different ways.

You could say that how we see, hear, or feel about something is our perspective

For example, the dictionary tells us this definition of perspective

particular evaluation of something: a particular evaluation of a situation or facts, especially from one person's point of viewa different perspective on the matter

Another dictionary definition, from an artist’s point of view

graphic arts allowance for artistic perspective when drawing: the theory or practice of allowing for artistic perspective when drawing or painting

vista: a vista or view

appearance of distant objects to observer: the appearance of objects to an observer allowing for the effect of their distance from the observer

Check out the perspective in this painting “View of Toledo” by El Greco

Both in here and in the View and Plan the city is shown from the north, except that El Greco has included only the easternmost portion, above the Tagus river.

Pay close attention to how this artist presented the perspective of this town when he painted it in 1597-1599

At the time of the Renaissance, we know that artists started to put perspective into their paintings,since they were becoming more “sophisticated”

St. Jerome-Earlier Middle Ages

In order to better understand what we’re discussing, look at this simpler picture, done before Renaissance time

Aerial, or Atmospheric perspective

When we think of the word atmosphere, think of the environment in which we live.

When we think of the word aerial, think of being up in the sky, looking down at the world.

Aerial, or Atmospheric perspective

Look around yourself. What do you see? With what things are you surrounded? What’s around you?

Aerial, or Atmospheric perspective

Artists started to create a sense of depth by imitating the effect of the atmosphere.

Aerial, or Atmospheric perspective

When an object is farther away from the viewer, it appears paler and sometimes blue

Science tells us that when things are farther away,dust and moisture particles in the atmosphere make the light scatter as it passes through them.

Aerial, or Atmospheric perspective

The amount of scattering depends on the wavelength of the light.

Blue light canpass through the mist caused by dust and moisture particles,and this is why the sky appears blue, and faraway mountains appear gray, blue,or purplish in color

The Harvesters by Peter Bruegel

Looking at this painting, we can see that the background on the left of the painting is a haze, mixed of white, yellow, and beige

The Harvesters by Peter Bruegel

Since our eye cannot determine details, the atmosphere creates an illusion of distance or space.

Luckily, this is one of the paintings we’ll see on our museum trip!

The Crucifixion by Jan Van Eyck

Please concentrate on the painting on the left half

As we saw in the Harvesters, this artist uses blues to show distance

The Crucifixion by Jan Van Eyck Likewise, he used

richer, more visible colors to help us get the sense of what’s “closer to us’.

Addtionally, notice how he made the figures closer to us appear closer, and those farther away , smaller

The Crucifixion by Jan Van Eyck On this painting,also

please pay attention to the central location of Christ, showing us his importance in the painting.