Proto-Renaissance
Art
Egyptian: Idealization
Greek: Realism
Roman: Illusionism
Byzantine Mosaic: Allegory
Chiaroscuro - A method of modeling form by the use
of light and shadow
Foreshortening – Reducing or distorting parts of an
object to convey the impression of three dimensions as
perceived by the eye.
Linear Perspective – Mathematical system for
representing three-dimensional objects and space on a twodimentional surface.
Aerial Perspective – Indication of distance
through use of light and atmosphere
Fresco – Wall painting where the pigment is mixed with
water and applied to fresh plaster.
Theodora mosaic in San Vitale, Ravenna c. 547
“What then I saw is more than tongue can say.
Our human speech is dark before the vision. The
ravished memory swoons and falls away. As one
who sees in dreams and wakes to find the
emotional impression of his vision still powerful
while its parts fade from his mind – just such am
I, having lost nearly all the vision itself, while in
my heart I feel the sweetness of it yet distilled
and fall.”
- Dante, Paradiso Canto XXXIII
Cimabue:
Madonna
Enthroned,
1280
Giotto:
The Ognissanti
Altarpiece,
1310
Masaccio:
Madonna and
Child Enthroned,
1426
Mantegna: Ceiling of Camera Degli
Sposi, 1474
Piero Della
Francesca:
The Brera
Altarpiece
(Madonna of
the Egg),
1474-78
Salvador Dali:
Madonna of
Port Lligat,
1950
Duccio:
Christ Entering
Jerusalem,
1305-06
Giotto: Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem,
1305
Giotto: The Lamentation, 1305
Massaccio:
The Trinity,
1425
Massaccio: Tribute Money, 1427
Medieval Artists: Renaissance Artists:
- Duccio
- Masaccio
- Cimabue
- Della Francesca
- Giotto