Abstract
Lustre in the dark: The perception of Early Netherlandish painting in renaissance Italy
Variations in the effects of light are the reason why Northern and Italian art of the fifteenth century mimics reality in different ways. Italian artists attempted to define our concept of three-dimensionality by means of geometrical perspective and lume (= spatial lighting). Northern artists especially used lustro (= lighting, lustre). Glossy objects in the foregrounds of Flemish paintings helped to draw the scene closer to the beholder. Lustro was therefore even used in open-air daylight scenes. In Leonardo’s mind the glossy effect of the related Italian concept of splendore in the dark bestowed the scene with a certain gracefulness (grazia). This is what must have attracted 15th-century Italian art lovers to Northern art. Splendore was achieved by tonal transitions in layers of oil paint. Lustro, however, did not allow for any natural depth of field (focus). As a consequence Flemish masterpieces were negatively judged in 16th-century Florentine art theory. The Florentines experienced the meticulous rendering of details as disturbing.
