Academic Research

“The development of perspective in Northern Renaissance art was unique in that the underlying motivation was primarily in the service of expression rather than the perfection of illusion.

Northern European painters often combined perspective with other spatial strategies as well as the realistic rendering of appearances.  This produced emotionally charged works of art that were paradoxical in their representational yet often illogical depiction of space.  Additionally, paintings of this nature permitted the artist to present the patron in a familiar and realistic environment while also creating a more imaginative space conducive to devotional contemplation.

Unlike the Italians who developed a mathematical system of linear perspective for purposes of unifying illusionistic space, Northerners did not restrict themselves to a single approach.  According to art historian Craig Harbison, they were primarily not “attracted to the mathematical system for the construction of the illusion of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface.”[i]  Harbison explains, “…it was not lack of knowledge of the Italian system that kept Northerners from employing it they simply did not have the same sensibility….”[ii]

Professor of Renaissance Art Susie Nash, points out that the Northerners included additional visual strategies like “an interest in distortion, pattern, line… scale and form to convey meaning.”[iii]  Paintings were often produced with an amalgam of visual elements that, while appealing to patrons for their seemingly realistic appearance, nonetheless resulted in “an illusion of reality which in effect is very unreal….”

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[i] Harbison, C. (1995). The Art of the Northern Renaissance. London: Laurence King Publishing.
[ii] Ibid., pp. 35
[iii] Nash, S. (2008). Northern Renaissance Art. Oxford. Oxford University Press.

Modernist in approach, the artwork’s [The Menin Road] pictorial structure is derived from Cubism with influences of Vorticism.[i] Nash integrates and emphasizes abstract elements such as bold forms, directional planes, active positive and negative space, and dramatic scale; all create a dynamic, multifaceted landscape. A band of stiff, denuded tree trunks are strategically positioned across the long format of the canvas to move the eye rhythmically back and forth from tree to ruined tree. Diagonal planes such as penetrating shafts of light or the repeated shadows of the scorched trees provoke constant visual movement. Recurring reversals of positive and negative space are found in the shapes of reflective pools of water and dark shadows, creating pockets of spatial ambiguity.

Depth in Nash’s expansive landscape is created through scale shifts rather than traditional perspectival means. Massive overturned concrete blocks in the lower-left corner contrast with a smaller swath of delicately depicted tree trunks on the horizon, creating vast spatial depth. In the upper-left corner, dark blue diagonal planes of smoke frame recessive volumes of atmospheric clouds and fumes.

The range of color in The Menin Road has been associated with Flemish “historic battle tapestries.”[ii] The tonal, near-monochromatic palette imbues the devastated landscape with a grim sense of desperation. Earthen browns, tans, and cold blues convey a pervading feeling of hopelessness.

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[i] The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Paul Nash, British Painter. [Online]. Available from: https://britannica.com/biography/Paul-Nash#ref831697 [Accessed 29 March 2021].

[ii] Paul Nash Artworks. The Art Story. [Online]. Available from: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/nash-paul/artworks/ [Accessed 15 March 2021].

“The Battle of Issus … conveyed a cosmological meaning relevant to the 1528 invasion. In this case, the painting’s consciously expansive landscape space is key. Art historian Norbert Wolf explains that Altdorfer’s comprehensive ordering of a natural scene was intended to point beyond the actual historical event, drawing an analogy between world history and cosmic occurrences.[i]

The cosmological meaning of the painting is most apparent in the way Altdorfer places the viewer. From a high, omniscient perspective, the viewer sees celestial skies contrasting with the battle below. From this position, the soldiers appear minute and are transformed into an anonymous, rhythmic flow that melds with sea and sky. This merging may symbolically represent the intertwining of man with a cosmological order or the interconnection between heaven and earth.

The juxtaposition between mankind and eternity can also be seen in Altdorfer’s compositional delineation of warm and cool color. A warm-toned light is cast on the embattled, war-torn foreground while the far-off landscape is enshrined in icy cool tones. The colorful lower-half of the painting offers narrative associations of real-world imagery while the monochromatic upper-half alludes to the celestial. According to Silver, “The harmony and connection between heaven and earth serve as the principal postulate of a magic worldview that dominated learning in the Germany of Altdorfer.”[ii] He goes on to explain that for Altdorfer, “the cosmic manifestations of comets and coronas in the heavens result from celestial powers, ultimately from God, like the astrological influences of stars and planets that connect the superior portions of the cosmos with the inferior portions.”[iii]

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[i] Norbert Wolf, Art History and Cosmology, 2008.

[ii] Larry Silver, German Renaissance Art, 1996.

[iii] Larry Silver, German Renaissance Art, 1996.

“Unlike the landscape paintings of Pissarro’s predecessors in which an open or wide expanse of the motif was portrayed,[i] The Climbing Path is made up of what might be thought of as several partial views. And rather than create pictorial space from a single point of view, Pissarro uses multiple viewpoints to construct an impression of the space represented.[ii] The viewer looks out at eye level toward the village, looks up the path, and also looks down across the forest floor.[iii]

The multiple viewpoint composition Pissarro created energizes the pictorial space in the painting. By its nature, the multi-point view is unfixed and destabilizing, creating a composite spatial sensation through shifting points of reference.[iv] The eye is in constant movement, traveling in and through the near and distant landscape space. This experience is based on perceptual changes resulting from eye or head movement, and the technique seems to be used by Pissarro to elicit the Impressionistic transitory moment experienced in the actual space itself. Multiple views and consequently fragmented space in The Climbing Path are remarkable considering the context of the time period.

Referring to Pissarro’s paintings depicting disconnected space or obstructed views, Paul Smith speculates about Pissarro’s “habitual choice of a certain kind of motif – an isolated section of the landscape instead of the more usual overview.”[v] Smith considers a broader meaning from a psychological position, pointing out that Pissarro was in many ways an outsider.[vi] He was a Jewish painter born and raised in the Danish West Indies. Smith conjectures that perhaps Pissarro never felt fully integrated into French society and that his paintings reflected this “…as if we were the painter seeking to penetrate the alien landscape.”[vii]

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[i] Smith, P. (1995) Impressionism Beneath the Surface. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

[ii] The Climb, Rue de la Côte-du-Jalet, Pontoise (n.d) [Online]. Available from https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/4411 [Accessed 22 August 2020]

[iii] The Climb, Rue de la Côte-du-Jalet, Pontoise (n.d) [Online]. Available from https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/4411 [Accessed 22 August 2020]

[iv] Dunning, W. (1991). Changing Images of Pictorial Space. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.

[v] Smith, P. (1956: 121) “Pissarro and the Impressionist Eye.” Art Journal.

[vi] Smith, P. (1956) “Pissarro and the Impressionist Eye.” Art Journal.

[vii] Smith, P. (1956: 122) “Pissarro and the Impressionist Eye.” Art Journal.