Renaissance Architecture Art project: Fresco Landscape Painting using Linear Perspective

Cathedral di Santa Maria de Fiore ( Duomo di Firenze) Florence, Italy. Filippo Brunelleschi - Dome 1436 Fresco: art of painting on moist painting on moist plaster with water-based pigments. Plaster: a paste mixture of sand, lime and water that hardens when applied to a surface. Paint applied to wet plaster creates a chemical bond and begins a process of carbonization (produces calcium carbonite crystals). This process continues for a long time, colors become richer rather than fading. Pigments become fixed as integral part of the wall and will last as long as the wall. Plaster remains damp for a day. Large detailed work is done in sections within a day.

Artist and apprentices work: Build scaffolding for high places. Wall preparation cleaning & plastering. Pigment grinding and mixing colors. Enlarge drawings with grids. Prick holes along contour lines. Pounce charcoal to transfer. Painting a section to be done in one day. Illusion of Distance and Space – Perspective drawings: One point linear perspective.

“View of an Ideal City” painting by Piero della Francesca c. 1470 Superimposed perspective lines illustrating the use of 1-point linear perspective.

Techniques to create Depth:

1. Converging lines to vanishing point: from wide to narrow.

2. Scale: equal sized objects diminish from large to small.

3. Overlapping of forms: from whole to partial.

4. Placement: Foreground (closest/bottom), Middle ground (center), Background (top/furthest). Placement of the horizon line varies amount of space shown. In perspectives the horizon line is at the viewer’s eye level.

5. Color: from bright and vibrant to faint / blurry. Atmospheric perspective.

6. Details: from close include lots of detail /textures/strong bold outlines to far with little detail / soft lines / fuzzy.

7. Shading, Light & Shadow: Highlights to cast shadows. Grey scale: white to black - (10) from light to dark– (Value). Elements of Renaissance Architecture

Palazzo Vecchio , Florence Basilica de San Andrea, Mantua – Alberti 1472-94 Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence – Michelozzi di Bartolomeo 1444-60

Duomo di Santa Maria del Fiore Historic buildings and gardens along Arno River, Ponte Vecchio, Arno River, Florence Florence.