Renaissance Art - Painting

Renaissance Art was a rebirth of realistic depictions of the human body and nature, which were popular with the Greek and Romans, but had lost favor during the Middle Ages. In Renaissance Art, painters were concerned with adding perspective or the ability to paint a three dimensional look onto a canvas. Painters wanted paintings to be a window looking out into the visible world or an imitation of reality. Painters were striving towards realism.

One of the ways painters of Renaissance Art added depth was to manipulate light and shadows so perspective was adjusted. Also blunt or sharp lines were avoided, so a blurring of tones was used to soften the lines and enhance the main subject. Backgrounds in Renaissance Art were painted smaller to give the allusion of distance and attention to architectural accuracy helped with the progress of realism in their paintings. An awareness of balance and proportion is evident in Renaissance Art. Bright and airy colors were used to bring nature and human forms closer to realism also.

Renaissance Art was some of the first paintings completed with oil-based paint. Since oil-based paints dried slowly, this enabled the painters to edit and control their works of art. They could work towards the perfection they were seeking in their art. As with any period of time, the Renaissance produced many important artists and their masterpieces, which we still enjoy today.