This picture was taken in Santa Maria Novella, in Florence. It is of a fresco called The Trinity, by
Masaccio, and was the first painting to make use of mathematical, one-point perspective. Perspective
This picture was taken in Santa Maria Novella, in Florence. It is of a fresco called The Trinity, by
Masaccio, and was the first painting to make use of mathematical, one-point perspective.
 |  The
title of the painting, "Trinity" refers to the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit is symbolized by a dove. The two people on either side
of the cross are Mary and St. John the Evangelist |
|   To
find the one-point perspective in this painting, all we have to do is take a ruler
and line it up with the architectural elements Masaccio added behind the figures. As
you can see, if we extend these lines, they all meet at a vanishing point at the
center of the altar that is below the fresco. |
|  In
this picture, the parallel lines of the sidewalk do seem to converge (or vanish!) in
the distance. The artists of the Renaissance were the first to make use of this
fact. And you can too! |
|  Another
method used by the artists of the Renaissance is called atmospheric chiaroscuro.
This is a mouthful that simply means that the artists, most notably, Leonardo da Vinci,
made use of the fact that images in the distance look blurred and misty... much like in
this photograph of a lily in my garden. |
NOTE: I introduce FORESHORTENING, a type of perspective, in grade 1. In the 6th Grade I present one and two-point perspective.