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The Lost & Found Line by Helen Van Wyk #artlessons #oilpainting #oilpaintingteacher #helenvanwyk

In the 13th century, the paintings looked flat. They were beautiful but they didn't have the dimension that the paintings of the 17th century had. One of the reasons why is that all the edges, all the edges around the Saints and the people that were adoring the Christ child had hard sharp lines called the "Found Line". Well, that was satisfactory for the 13th century but then as time went on the 17th century came along and the paintings took on more dimension. Suddenly the figures started to jump out into space and you could almost imagine that there was something beyond the edge. That was because the 17th century artists found the "Lost Line" and the combination of a sharp sharp edge and a fuzzy fuzzy edge made a harmony that caused more dimension.