In order for the painters of the Early Renaissance to achieve the illusion of
three dimensional reality in painting, they had to devise new formal techniques. One
such technique devised by 14th century painters such as Masaccio, and used by
painters today to create space, is the priciple of the separation of planes.
The principle of overlapping separate planes to suggest depth was derived from
the illusion created by theatre sets. These planes, known as
foreground, middleground and background,
lead the viewer's eye from the closest objects in the painting backward to the
furthest objects in the painting.
In Masaccio's The Tribute Money, the foreground consists
of the grouping of Christ, the Apostles and the tax collector and the tertiary
narrative to the right. The middleground plane is
filled with architecture and the secondary narrative to the left. In the furthest
space of the painting, thebackground, Masaccio painted a hazy mountainous landscape
with cloudy sky.
| Historical Overview | Early Renaissance | Masaccio | High Renaissance | Leonardo | Raphael |