Soon an artist named Masaccio began his career and changed nearly everything about painting. The frescos that he painted used episodes all in the same painting, not just one subject. The figures were highlighted with light at an angle against a dark background, giving the illusion of a sculptural relief and adding the visual effect of 3 dimensions. He used light to give human figures and fabric a form which enhanced the visual realism. The figures were arranged in a circular group, shown in a landscape with a foreground and a background with blurring lines to give distance and depth making it more realistic in nature. Masaccio also began using mathematical proportions for buildings, and figures in his compositions. This became Realism based on observation and based also on mathematics to aid the pictoral organization. Evolving from this came more 3 dimensional forms, perspective which had little to do with math, and the arrangement of solid forms in space. Linear perspective began during this time as a new technique, this is when there is a vanishing point with receding lines. DaVinci used this technique in his “The Last Supper” to create a measureable realistic space which enhanced the realism of the Renaissance style.
Donatello was one of the finest sculptors of this period and thought methodically in a new way, the body provides the framework on which fabric drapes, therefore it must be considered first. This pioneered the “realism” in sculpture. Early Renaissance Architecture was known by the characteristics of a sculptor Filliipo Brunelleschi. After a trips to Rome this Artist/turned Architect began developing the system of geometric linear perspective.