Masters of Illusion; Video - notes

This video, narrated by James Burke, uses computer graphics to illustrate linear perspective and other practices used by master artists in the Renaissance period to create three-dimensional space. The Renaissance movement began in Italy and lasted from roughly 1400 to the mid-1500s.
Linear Perspective: Linear perspective is a way of creating a convincing, perfect illusion of space on a flat or two-dimensional surface.
One Point Perspective: Parallel lines appear to recede in the distance and converge at a single point, the vanishing point.
Linear perspective opened great potential for artists to create illusion and add depth to their works. This tool was not only used in drawings or paintings but sculpture in the period as well to convey a feeling of vast space.

Artists and their practices in this video include:
Filippo Brunelleschi's (re)discovery of linear perspective in about 1420.
This shifted focus to the individual, the viewer, and their observation of the artwork from a fixed viewpoint and differs greatly from the multiple viewpoints as seen in medieval art.

Masaccio was the first painter to incorporate Brunelleschi's discovery in his art; the Holy Trinity 1427, Fresco, Santa Maria Novella, Florence.

Piero della Francesaca, a mathematician and artist, introduced systematic perspective.

Albrecht Durer, a German artist, created one of the earliest known examples of multiple vanishing point perspective.

Leonardo DaVinci's fascination of how the eye perceives led him to a series of experiments with the goal to understand the physiology of the eye itself. He theorized that light enters the eye. In the Renaissance period, artists paid much attention to how light and shadow played a huge role in creating a sense of depth.
Raphael utilizes light and shadows in his paintings, with a more dramatic manner than Da Vinci's subtle style.

Da Vinci discovers the Perspective of Disappearance aka Atmospheric Perspective. Foreground colors are warmer tones while background colors are often grays, blues, or cooler tones and has less contrast as it recedes. This creates depth by emulating the 'fog' in the atmosphere.
Da Vinci drew first known anamorphic or stretched artwork.
Hans Holbein created works using this method.

Andrea Mantegna known for exploring perspective and a creative use of point of view. He considers the viewer and the angle at which the observer views the work.

In the High Renaissance, an explosion of creativity, Michelangelo and Raphael broke architectural boundaries with their large scale works.