Developing Genius: The Innovation of Artistry During the Renaissance

The creation of art - beauty for the sake of beauty, as well as for religious purposes - is one of the greatest accomplishments of humankind. A great many of our artistic techniques were either invented or re-discovered during the Renaissance, as man sought to find himself in his creations. Some of the most important developments during this time were the use of perspective to create depth, the use of contrapposto in sculpting to create motion, and the use of human expression in art to convey emotion. These techniques embody the renaissance obsession with self discovery and understanding, as artists attempted to capture reality in their work. The culture at the time also reflected a deep admiration for Greek and Roman antiquity, and resurrected many of the artistic techniques and mythological figures of that time, combining them with the more recent Christian iconography.

Perhaps the most essential discovery of the renaissance was the use of perspective in painting. This technique included using Chiascuro (light and shadow) and a vanishing point to create depth and dimension. These discoveries made a dramatic difference in the realism of paintings, as artists applied the techniques to bodies, architecture, and landscapes. Giotto, most famous for his painting of Madonna and Child, did some of his best work in the Arena Chapel in Italy. The rearmost panels, to the upper left and right of the door, are so perfectly painted that the viewer actually perceives an illusion of depth as though there were figures placed on shelves rather than frescoes on a wall. Ambrogio Lorenzetti, who painted an entire three-dimensional city, and Massaccio with his Trinity were also masters of space and dimension. Brunelleschi, the creator of the famous Duermo, once created a painting of a street in Florence which so perfectly captured the appearance that viewers, when looking through a hole in the painting at it's reflection, could not distinguish between the painting and the actual street.