Brunelleschi-+Linear+Perspective

During the Middle Ages many ideas were lost and the world was a grim place. Art in Europe during the time was mainly religious and unrealistic due to its lack of perspective. The idea of linear perspective was lost or abandoned after the decline of the Roman Empire. Artists struggled with trying to portray three-dimensional paintings on a two-dimensional plane. During the Renaissance, art was forever changed with the rediscovery of linear perspective by an Italian goldsmith and clockmaker named Filippo Brunelleschi.

Filippo Brunelleschi was born in Florence, Italy in the year 1377, and is best known for the design of the dome of the great Florence Cathedral. Work on the cathedral began in 1296. In 1418, the cathedral still incomplete, it was announced that there was to be a competition for the best design for the dome. Many architects were unable to come up with a design that would be able to hold up the weight of the dome. The dome would exceed that of the Roman Pantheon which had been the world’s largest dome for over a thousand years. Brunelleschi was able to solve the greatest architectural puzzle of the age and the Florence Cathedral was consecrated by Pope Eugene IV in the year 1436 -134 years after work on the cathedral first began.

By the year 1418, before his architectural plan for the dome was perfected, Brunelleschi was most famous for his experiment on linear perspective. By definition, perspective is “the method of representing three-dimensional objects in recession on a two-dimensional surface in order to give the same impression of relative position, size or distance as the actual objects do when viewed from a particular point” (King 35). Simply put, perspective in art is giving a picture or painting the illusion of depth or distance in order to make it more realistic. For this to happen, paintings have to have a vanishing point which is the point where the parallel lines created in the painting converge. This point creates the illusion of depth and is usually the farthest point demonstrated in the painting. To conduct his experiment, Brunelleschi chose the Baptistery of San Giovanni as his subject.

Brunelleschi first stood in the middle doorway of the Santa Maria del Fiore and painted onto a small panel everything that he saw through the doorway. In place of a sky, Brunelleschi put a mirror to reflect the changing sky. He then drilled a small hole in the vanishing point. Then, standing about the exact place where he had created the painting, Brunelleschi faced the painting away from him and peered through the hole and held a mirror at arm’s lengt h in front of his painting. The image viewed in the mirror was an exact representation of the reality that had been the subject of his painting. This experiment changed the history of art. Even though Brunelleschi’s discovery is known as a “rediscovery,” the theory was never lost again. (King 35-36)

After the decline of the Roman Empire, people did not have a great desire to learn. Art and literature were no longer important, and many things were lost. During the Middle Ages the main goal was survival, not education so many people were uneducated. The Renaissance, meaning “rebirth” in French, was just that, it was the rebirth of knowledge and art, and the rise of the world we know today. Brunelleschi’s “rediscovery” of linear perspective changed the world of art forever, making it more realistic and helping the Renaissance earn its name. Filippo Brunelleschi helped revive art with an idea that seems so simple.

Sources/ Images:

King, Ross. //Brunelleschi's Dome: The Story of the Great Cathedral in// // Florence //. London, England : Vintage Books, 2008. 35. Print.

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Matthews, Kevin. "Florence Cathedral." Artifice. Inc., 2011. Web. 10 Apr 2011. [].

// Florence //// Baptistery //. Web. 13 Apr 2011. [].

"Various Perspectives ." //Barry's Studio//. Blogger, 1/29/10. Web. 13 Apr 2011. [].