DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61668#0068
42
POLLAIUOLO
giving importance to his figures by setting them on a
prominence well in the foreground, thus eliminating the
middle distance, by which means they stand out colossal
against the distant plane. This composition is almost
invariable in his paintings, and was imitated by Botti-
celli in those early works which most show the influence
of Antonio, for example, in his A. Sebastian of Berlin
and the Judith of the Uffizi.
He must have devoted himself with almost equal zeal
to the study of perspective as to anatomy, and here also
he was far in advance of his contemporaries. His success
in rendering the depth of space in landscape exceeds
that of Paolo Uccello, and in interiors he is unrivalled.
In his designs for the embroideries, in his relief of the
Silver Altar, with backgrounds as detailed as a Flemish
interior, he has given the perspective of the long rooms
and the relative values of distance with consummate skill.
His landscapes have the spaciousness of Perugino’s, a
spaciousness gained, not by any atmospheric effect,
which he never attempted, but by his fine management
of perspective. The planes recede so naturally and the
values of distance are so well rendered, that we have the
feeling, as in the minute landscapes of Mantegna, of
actually being able to enter fit and to measure the
number of miles to the most distant point.
He was as realistic in his treatment of landscape as of
the human form. He chose to represent invariably the
same scene—the Arno Valley seen from below Florence
—and reproduces with photographic fidelity every
detail and building dotted among the hills. Each
POLLAIUOLO
giving importance to his figures by setting them on a
prominence well in the foreground, thus eliminating the
middle distance, by which means they stand out colossal
against the distant plane. This composition is almost
invariable in his paintings, and was imitated by Botti-
celli in those early works which most show the influence
of Antonio, for example, in his A. Sebastian of Berlin
and the Judith of the Uffizi.
He must have devoted himself with almost equal zeal
to the study of perspective as to anatomy, and here also
he was far in advance of his contemporaries. His success
in rendering the depth of space in landscape exceeds
that of Paolo Uccello, and in interiors he is unrivalled.
In his designs for the embroideries, in his relief of the
Silver Altar, with backgrounds as detailed as a Flemish
interior, he has given the perspective of the long rooms
and the relative values of distance with consummate skill.
His landscapes have the spaciousness of Perugino’s, a
spaciousness gained, not by any atmospheric effect,
which he never attempted, but by his fine management
of perspective. The planes recede so naturally and the
values of distance are so well rendered, that we have the
feeling, as in the minute landscapes of Mantegna, of
actually being able to enter fit and to measure the
number of miles to the most distant point.
He was as realistic in his treatment of landscape as of
the human form. He chose to represent invariably the
same scene—the Arno Valley seen from below Florence
—and reproduces with photographic fidelity every
detail and building dotted among the hills. Each