Donatellos rilievo schiacciato sculpture: challenges and implications for the visual brain

Usually, the eye and the brain can easily differentiate between a flat, two-dimensional picture and a typical three-dimensional sculpture in the round. Yet the emergence of an unusual form of Renaissance relief sculpture suggests that this observation merits further consideration. In Florence around 1415, that most accomplished of sculptors Donato dei Bardi, commonly known as Donatello, devised a variety of very low sculptural relief known by the Italian term rilievo schiacciato—‘flattened out’ or ‘squashed’ relief.1 An extreme form of bas-relief, this form of sculpture comprises carving with a depth of just a few millimetres and has been described as ‘a kind of engraving on the stone’ in which the marble surface of the sculpture is chiselled ‘to create indentations and protrusions that will catch the light...creating highlights and shadows. Rilievo schiacciato is rather like drawing with light and shadow, and this new relief style was developed during...
Source: Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry - Category: Neurosurgery Authors: Tags: Occasional essay Source Type: research