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_perspective _
By: john
Perspective Use of perspective in art finds its root in one man, Filippo
Brunelleschi. Although we dont know for sure, it is likely that Brunelleschi
also invented linear, or scientific perspective. Donatellos The Feast of
Herod is the earliest surviving example of scientific perspective, which is
established through the use of a vanishing point , an imaginary single point
on the page in which all the parallel lines meet. Donatellos Feast of Herod
was a groundbreaking work by that days standards, and a complete failure in
the fulfillment of compositional requirements of traditional classical or
medieval standards. The focal point of the piece, the presentation of St.
Johns head to Herod, is in the far left corner, and the crowd watching is
clustered into the right corner. Upon examination of the action, however,
Donatellos intention is clear; by placing the people in this way, the gesture
and emotion of the scene is more implicit and effective. It is also more
clearly established that the scene does not end at the focal point, it in fact
continues off into every direction, an impression more clearly made with his
use of scientific perspective. This window view into the scene was a radical
step, and would influence how the picture plane was to be seen from that point
on. Another important milestone in the history of perspective is Pietro
Perudinos The Delivery of the Keys . Painted in 1482, this work employs a
grave, symmetrical structure, a tool he used to emphasize the importance of
the scene being represented: The authority of St. Peter as the first pope, and
all of his successors, rests on his having received the keys to the Kingdom of
Heaven from Christ himself. The onlookers are all rendered with powerfully
individualized faces. Equally powerful is the vast expanse of the almost
surreal background. The spatial clarity, established by the use of
mathematically precise perspective, is the influence of Brunelleschi. Andrea
Mantegna was another 15th century painter. He was a prodigy that rendered in
paint with skill from the age of 16 on. With the painting St. James Led to
His Execution Mantegna established himself as a person who wasnt afraid to
break with traditional painting techniques, and adds a daring touch by
painting from a ground up view of the scene. This was used because the
painting was hung so tha the bottom of the painting was at the viewers eye
level. Because of this the architecture looms intimidatingly, and is made more
convincing by his use of scientific perspective.His desire for authenticity
can be seen in every small detail, including the Roman soldiers costumes. It
even extends to the use of wet drapery patterns, an invention of classical
Greek sculpture that was then passed onto the Romans. We can also find a
reference to Donatello in Mantegnas rendering of the lean, tense bodies of
the Roman soldiers. The intensity that Mantegna establishes by using these
techniques hardly fits the subject matter, as the condemned saint, on the way
to his execution, stops to bless a paralytic man and command him to walk. The
onlookers facial expressions and gesture hint at how deeply this sight has
stirred them. Mantegna has even painted a violent scene erupting off to the
right as the crowd becomes agitated. In writing this paper, I assumed that you
assigned the paintings in the Met because of their accessibility to
engineering students who may not have any art books. I knew of these works as
important stepping stones in the modern use of perspective, and I felt the
need to write
Word Count: 595
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