As we were already on the subject of Florence yesterday, I can not resist talking more about the Renaissance and amongst other things, the discovery of the use of perfect perspective in art.

The painter Masaccio (1401 – 1428),  was one of the great Italian painters of the Quattrocento period. As Donatello and Brunelleschi were the first to incorporate linear perspective into their sculptures and architecture, Masaccio was the first in painting.

Around 1427 Masaccio won a prestigious commission to produce a Holy Trinity for the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. This composition is know for the first use of perfect linear perspective, giving realistic depth to the space, especially the receding vaulted ceiling.

The understanding of linear perspective propelled painting into a new dimension of reality, copying exactly what the human eye sees when it looks at a landscape or building.

Many Renaissance painters quickly adopted this technique, like in Paolo Uccello‘s fresco of the Flood and Waters Subsiding (1447-48) on the walls of the cloister belonging to the same Santa Maria Novella Church in Florence.

If you visit Florence, the church of Santa Maria Novella and its neighborhood are a must, because this is where one of the oldest “apothecary’s” still in operation today originated:

 Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella

With its age old products from soaps and perfumes to its famous “pot pourri”.

Via della Scala, 16, 50123 Firenze, Italy.