Why was early medieval art not painted in three dimesional perspective?

Question

Was there a church law against painthing holy figures as real people?

Answer 1

perspective wasnt invented until the Renascence

Answer 2

There's sort of a debate about that. Some people say that a lot of knowledge was lost during the middle ages and that early medieval artists didn't know anything about perspective. This argument is that early medieval artists painted as well as they could and they just weren't as skilled as later artists.
Other people argue that artists in the middle ages chose to paint the way they did and that they didn't necessarily want medieval art to look realistic. I don't think there was any sort of law against it, but there may have been a general idea that painting in 2D represented a different world, a sort of holier sphere that was supposed to inspire awe and respect in the viewer.

Answer 3

There are several different theories about why this is. One is that the skill level of artists and craftsmen died out after the fall of Rome. Another is that the depiction of men, saints, and God went against the Ten Commandments, with the creation of false idols. By having the holy images not naturalisticly depict man , no commandments could be broken. Another possibility is that these craftsmen found the non 3d images to satisfy what they were looking for. Imagine what images of saints, people, and God would have looked like glittering in mosaic or gold leaf on a dark church wall. Thousands of flickering candles illuminating the images. The lack of 3d did nothing to lower the devotion to the church at that time. Many during the middle ages were struggeling to survive. The plague and other diseases were rampant, and a mini ice age had struck europe. People were starving, they could not afford to have a child spending hours to learn artistic skills when he could be helping the family to survive another day. We may never know for sure why, either they did not consider it important, or they really could not figure out how to recreate the 3d form. There were images of 3d forms occupying space throughout europe, so it was impossible for them to have absolutely no idea what the 3d form would look like. I am not saying that these forms were all over but for example citizens of Rome, would be able to see what a 3d relief or painting may have looked like.

Answer 4

Early medieval artists did not understand perspective and were unable to draw three-dimensional representations.

There were no church regulations governing the depiction of holy figures as real people.

Answer 5

The art that you are talking about, The artest did not have the same idea and tools as we have now a days.