Early Renaissance analysis

            The Crucifixion with Saints by Perugino is an example of Early Renaissance art. The elements used to incorporate this painting were a base in painting that spread among other aspiring artists of that time. My reaction to the painting is one of awe; the painting exhibits a dynamic sense of balance. To portray the sense of balance, the painting utilized the elements of composition, color, style, line and scale.

            As one can see, the Crucifixion of Saints one can see that the painting is divided into three panels. This was typical at the time during the Early Renaissance to create this type of art medium. Usually they were placed on altars at churches, so they respectively gained the name as altar pieces. Since the altar piece has three panels, this altar would be called a triptych. I believe balance is the strongest point in this painting. Perugino established balance by how he juxtaposition everything on the painting. As one can see Perugino used a pyramidal figural group, which is Jesus at the top and the four persons at the bottom evenly spaced to create a triangle like shape. This created a sense of balance as all implied weight is equally shared on every point of the painting. Another pyramidal structure that can be examined is of the foreground landscape. The rocky hills surrounding the five figures form a sort of upside down pyramid to give more importance to the central figure. The importance of the figure in the middle is emphasized by the empty background. This use of juxtaposition allows the viewer to see that the central figure is the most important of the piece. Composition was the most heavily used element to exhibit the aspect of balance.

            Another element utilized to show balance, was color. Using the technique called atmospheric or aerial perspective; Perugino was able to further portray balance through the whole piece. On the foreground all objects are beautifully and warmly colored. All features are exhibited and the use of shadow and light gives the foreground a warm and heavenly glow. The objects on the background though are shown in cooler colors. A sort of bluish gray or colorless background indicating the illusion of distance, as well as the apparent use of less detail as the farther away the scene is from the foreground. This gives the painting depth and a more dynamic sense that the scene is more realistic.

            The style that Perugino used for the Crucifixion of the Saints was heavily popularized by Flemish painters. It allowed artists to paint a visual picture of a window to see a real event or a perspective of what would have happened. Flemish painters were adamant about detail to all features such as the people, objects in the painting, or aspects that reside in the natural world. For example the flowers at the bottom of the painting are highly detail, all the leaves are shown, petals, highlights of the stems and leaves, and the grass surrounding the flowers is individually painted. Today lots of artists spend much time on immaculate detail as this because it consumes too much time. Perugino’s Flemish style gave more balance to the painting because it gave a continuity of detail to the whole composition. Nothing was left less detailed or else it would distract the viewer and therefore compromise the balance of the piece.

            What also helped to establish balance of the Crucifixion of that Saints was the use of line. As I said before, the painting is in pyramidal form, but more importantly Perugino utilized the skill of linear perspective that became a standard in Renaissance art. Jesus at the top of the altar piece was used as the vanishing point, or the point where all direction comes from. Then orthogonal lines, or imaginary lines that give direction spreading from the vanishing point, spread out towards all the figures at the bottom. This allows the viewer to lead his or her eye at the top, or the focal point. Then lead down to the rest of the altar piece, this allows for a more fluid continuous line of direction. The use of line gives the viewer a balanced sense of direction as the viewer does not feel compelled to start viewing at the right corner or on a random spot.

            To finalize the feel of balance, Perugino uses scale to create depth and realism. This is called intuitive perspective, as objects or landscapes get farther into the distance; they appear smaller and out of focus. An example of this is on the left panel of the altar piece, a lion is shown in the middle ground smaller that the man in the foreground, giving the impression that the lion is at a farther distance then the scene on the foreground. Other examples include the landscape in the middle panel in the background, and the fence behind the person on the right panel. These uses of scale further assume the sense of balance because it gives the continuity of depth giving the overall sense of the painting as stable and harmonious.