Publisher's Synopsis
This PhD dissertation is about western Art, and especially about "the perspective in the Italian Renaissance Painting. My big concern is to demonstrate how the early painters since the late twelve-century were creating a new view and composition of the space in their painting. This new perception was the founding of the perspective as three-dimensional space based on vanishing point. Giotto was the first one who renovated the perception of space from flatness, as it used to be in the Middle Ages, to create the perception of deepness by using chiaroscuro [light and shadow]. From this way of conceiving this subject come the concerns of this thesis. The focus here is about the new perception of pictorial space that was elaborated in the early renaissance by Italian painters and applied later in architecture, astronomy, and cartography, then in physic by the sixteen century with Galilee. Indeed the experience of Giotto as the earliest sole painter who applied some notion of tree dimensional space by the use of the chiaroscuro [light and shadow], was grandiose in the historic of Italian painting. However Brunelleschi; the Italian architect, was the first to adopt the new notion of space using vanishing point to visualize the dome of the great cathedral he was chosen to design its architectural plans. Brunelleschi, of course, was no mere sidewalk painter. This was the man-sculptor, architect; "artisan-engineer"-who gave Florence numerous architectural masterpieces, above all the magnificent dome (1420-1436) over the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Flore. His work wasn't done solely but after serious discussions with scientific figures and famous artists of his time. This discovery of new perception of space was based on Euclidian principles: homogeneity, infinity, and continuity. Thus this return to Greek legacy wasn't always done directly but through Arab philosopher and scientific like Alhazen, Al Kindy, and others. They were the one who translated Aristotle and Euclid's work from Greek to Arabic or Latin during the Islamic renaissance in Middle East and Spain. This new perception couldn't be done without studying the Greek's philosophy and science legacy. This way of approaching the Italian Renaissance Painting had indeed various points of view, but my concentration was on E.H Gombrich and Samuel Y. Edgerton JR. points of view through their important published PhD thesis and books that I got at Penn fine art library in Philadelphia/PA, and somewhere else. Most of views I have set forth were western theorems with strong impact in history of Art like EDGERTON, GOMBRICH, PANOFSKY to other theorists and Specialists in art history and Renaissance renovations. American theorists and art critical have a strong theorems, their contribution is rich and fruitful in art history. Common points between civilizations can't be neglected, likewise in the early Islamic Renaissance in the tenth century of Islamic Renaissance famous Islamic philosophers in Spain and middle east were studying the great philosophers like Aristotle, Plato, Euclid, and others. They translated their essential books from Greek to Arabic and Latin; they got the benefit of their strong logic analysis especially with Aristotle and Geometry with Euclid. They didn't just translate the books from Greek language to Arabic or Latin languages, but they were trying to build a new system of thinking. The same thing happened with the Egyptian culture that flourished in many areas of interest especially in Art. They had great impact and influence on many other civilizations in their time and over time, because they were very advanced in expressing themselves in drawing on the walls in the cities and also inside the huge Palaces of Egyptian Emperors. I come to conclude that the contact between different civilizations can always be interesting and flourishing, because I don't believe in the crash of civilizations but in fructuous relations, cooperation, and commun
