Monday 31 May 2010 20.33 EDT First published on Monday 31 May 2010 20.33 EDT. Tropical Storm Agatha swept across Central America yesterday, bringing torrential rain that killed more than 100 people and opened a 60m-deep sinkhole in Guatemala City which reportedly swallowed up a three-storey building.
The artist who takes the biggest step away from the Medieval style of spiritual representation in painting in the early 14th century is Giotto. Giotto is perhaps best known for the frescos he painted in the Arena (or Scrovegni) Chapel. They were commissioned by a wealthy man named Enrico Scrovegni, the son of a well-known banker (and a banker himself).
Updated November 24, 2014. Definition: (noun) - A word, from the Latin (via Italian) fumare (to smoke), used to denote a painting technique. Sfumato means that there are no harsh outlines present (as in a coloring book). Areas blend into one another through miniscule brushstrokes, which makes for a rather hazy, albeit more realistic, depiction of light and color. An early, wonderful example of sfumato can be seen in Leonardo's Mona Lisa. Inventing the Technique. According to the art historian Giorgio Vasari (1511â1574), the technique was first invented by the Primitive Flemish school, including perhaps Jan Van Eyck and Rogier Van Der Weyden. Da Vinci's first work incorporating sfumato is known as the Madonna of the Rocks, a triptych designed for the chapel in San Francesco Grande, painted between 1483 and 1485.