History of World Art II: Day 35 - Atmospheric Perspective and Wood Pulp Paper

High Renaissance was a very productive and exciting time for the arts and sciences. Especially in Italy where three of the most famous artist ever, lived and worked: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) (1483 –1520), and Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564).

Some of the things that struck me the most was the Atmospheric perspective and the effect of printing on the accessibility of art and ideas and the effect of a new supply of wood pulp paper on the quality of the arts.

There was an explosion of accessible art with the advent of printing which allowed art to be “mass-produced” via the print-making arts of woodblock, etching, engraving, and other relief print methods (clay stamps, etc). There was also an abundance of drawing paper that had not been accessible before, which allowed artists to practice their art like never before. Until the late 15^th century the material used for drawing had been extremely expensive vellum made out of young animal skins, and parchment or prepared animal hides. This did not allow for a lot of experimentation, and most of the work done was very deliberate and worked out before hand (I imagine them practicing their lines in the dirt with sticks, or even painting on rocky surfaces). This also allowed artists to work on really developing their style, so the art that was produced was light years ahead of any that had come before.

Leonardo infuses his subjects with an emotive quality unseen before, and his use of atmospheric perspective seems unparalleled even later in the 16^th Century. Govanni Bellini and Titian, Feast of the Gods (c. 1529) – it seems like they were looking at Leonardo’s earlier Madonna of the Rocks (c. 1498). While Bellini/Titian’s background has more contrast from the action, and is done in the Arcadian fashion (named after the region of southern Greece) – showing a place of idyllic, rustic, peace – it echo’s the groundbreaking work done by Leonardo since his was the first to seamlessly incorporate action into an atmospheric background and to portray the figures within and interacting with the atmosphere of the painting.