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Wednesday, April 24, 2013


U

 

Uccello

 
Paolo Uccello (1397–1475) was a Florentine artist of the Renaissance, the time when artists were discovering perspective, and he was fascinated by it. He worked endlessly on perfecting the technique of foreshortening to add depth to his painting. In his best known work, The Battle of San Romano, we can see how he used these new techniques, although it seems crude compared to later Renaissance paintings.
 
 
The Battle of San Romano
 
 
Under the rump of the rearing white horse in the center lies the body of a soldier, his feet touching the bottom edge of the frame, his body stretched toward the back of the picture; this is foreshortening. The figure is very small in comparison to the others, but it is probably the earliest instance of this technique being used to represent a figure in depth. Furthermore, the lances lying on the ground all point toward the rear, what came to be known as the “vanishing point” of a painting, something that Renaissance artists perfected as part of the illusion of dimension.

 
Here are a few other examples of his painting.

The Hunt
The Magi
St. Francis

3 comments:

  1. I applaud artists. How they create on canvas is beyond me, even with the explanations.
    Take 25 to Hollister
    Don't be a Hippie

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  2. New painter for me, thank you for sharing!

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  3. Cool - I don't think I would have noticed the depth in the pictures had it not been pointed out in the top one. I definatly viewed the others differently and noticed more. Love the point about hte vanishing point and I am really drawn by the darkness of the trees pulling me to the back of the forest in The Hunt.

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