Which are notable painting techinques that were used by Renaissance painters?

Question

For example, the "egg tempera" technique was widely used throughout the Middle Ages. Are there any techniques that were developed or widely used during the Renaissance? What technique makes one think of the Renaissance?

Answer 1

Oil painting was developed during the Renaissance. Also, perspective and naturalism marked Renaissance art.

Answer 2

Nixie is quite right mentioning chiaroscuro and sfumato.

Chiaroscuro is a word borrowed from Italian ("light and shade" or "dark") referring to the modeling of volume by depicting light and shade by contrasting them boldly.
This is one means of strengthening an illusion of depth on a two dimensional surface, and was an important topic among artists of the Renaissance.

(pr. kee-ahr'oh-scyoo"roh)



Examples of the use of chiaroscuro:

Gerard David (Netherlandish, c. 1455 - 1523), The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c. 1512-15, oil on wood panel, 20 x 17 inches (50.8 x 43.2 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. See drapery, Northern Renaissance, and vignette.

Albrecht Altdorfer (German, c. 1480-1538), Samson and Delilah (Judges 16:19), 1506, pen and dark brown ink, heightened with white, on brown prepared paper, 6 11/16 x 4 3/4 inches (17.0 x 12.0 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.

Ugo da Carpi (Italian, active c. 1502-32), designed by Baldassare Peruzzi (Italian, 1481-1536), Hercules Chasing Avarice from the Temple of the Muses, c. 1518 (?), chiaroscuro woodcut from two blocks, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.


Andre Andreani, after Mantegna (Italian, 1540?-1623), The Elephants, 1598 - 1599, woodcut, plate 5, 14 1/6 x 14 5/8 inches (36.8 x 36.9 cm), Michael C. Carlos


Sfumato - In painting, the technique of blurring or softening sharp outlines by subtle and gradual blending (feathering) of one tone into another. The smokelike haziness of this effect slightly lessens the perception that a still image is entirely still, instead lending a vague sense of movement. It is best known in the paintings of the Italian Renaissance artists Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and Correggio (Antonio Allegri) (Italian, 1489-1534).

Examples of sfumato:

Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452-1519), Madonna with a Flower (Benois Madonna), begun 1478, oil on canvas, 19 1/2 x 12 1/2 inches (49.5 x 33 cm), Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Leonardo da Vinci, Madonna Litta, c. 1490-91, tempera on canvas, transferred from panel, 16 1/2 x 13 inches (42 x 33 cm), Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa (La Joconde), c. 1503-1506, oil on wood panel, 77 x 53 cm, Louvre. This most famous of paintings is important for many reasons, not least of which is Leonardo use of sfumato. It seems to suggest that we are observing this face as its expression is changing. This portrait also presents early examples of aerial perspective and landscape painting.

Although egg tempera was widely used during the Renaissance, oils became very popular. Oil paint could be diluted and gave artists more scope to paint in mnute detail. It was a lot easier to work with than egg tempra.

Single point linear perspective was discovered during the Renaissance by Brunelleschi and this revolutionized painting. In the Middle Ages or Medieval times paintings were very flat and lacked perspective but with Brunelleschi's discovery paintings began to gain depth and thus greater realism.

The change of visual representation during the Renaissance is always a dead give away as well.

Humanism - Any attitude that gives priority to human endeavors, their values, capacities, worth, interests, needs, and welfare, rather than to those of the gods, the spirits, the animals, or any other non-human thing. Also, the study of the humanities. The term is frequently qualified, as in "Renaissance humanism," which is characterized by a love of the achievements of the Greco-Roman world, an optimism that humans are inherently endowed with the skills necessary to reshape the world according to their own needs, and a belief in inherent human dignity. While the Renaissance humanists did not see their enlightened self-interest as a contradiction of their Christianity, a few recent demagogues identify "secular humanism" as a tacitly atheistic preoccupation with human affairs.

Artworks resulting from the humanism which arose during the Renaissance:




Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452-1519), Study of proportions, from Vitruvius's De Architectura, pen and ink, 13 1/2 x 9 5/8 inches (34.3 x 24.5 cm), Accademia, Venice. Leonardo, inspired by the mathematician Vitruvius (Roman, 1st century BCE), drew this famous picture of Vitruvian Man — a sort of ideal figure — whose arm span is equal to his height — a ratio of one, or 1:1.


Motions of the Mind and the Soul.

For the first time in art painters such as Leonardo attempted to paint their subjects' thoughts and feelings. Look at Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper fresco. You will see the Apostles' reaction to Jesus telling them that one of them will betray him. This reaction is a motion of the mind or soul.

Answer 3

Renaissance painters used alot of math in creating their paintings, perspective, and panel-painting(diptychs/triptychs).

Answer 4

Chiaroscuro and Sfumato maybe.