Art history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Art history - Essay Example Aerial perspective is the technique of creating a work of art that shows how atmospheric conditions influence perception of distance objects. Objects closer to the horizon have lighter tones, and less detailed than objects far from the horizon. A good example is looking at the sky whereby the part directly above a person looks bluer, but looking towards the horizon the color fades and appears lighter. Evidence of application of aerial perspective can be seen in architectural drawings such as a city plan. Artists realized that moisture and dust in the atmosphere caused the light passing through it to scatter. The most scattered is the short wavelength, which is blue, and the least scattered is the long wavelength, which is red. This results in far looking objects to appear bluer, paler, and hazier. Landscape painters utilized this principle to present the atmosphere between the viewer and distant objects such as mountains. The atmosphere makes distant objects appear with less distinct edges and outlines than objects nearer to the viewer. Among the first painters to utilize this technique was Leonard Da Vinci who invented the term aerial perspective. In the painting of by Masaccio, Tribute Money, there is evidence of change in color and value of the composition as the viewer’s eyes move from the foreground backwards. As the viewer looks backward, the hills in the painting become lighter and lighter, and also bluer. Moreover, the objects in the background appear cooler than the foreground objects.