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 view
a 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.