What did people begin to study during the enlightment?
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A great example of this is the painting The Flagellation of Christ by Piero della Francesca (1415-1492). It is a very good illustration of the Golden Rule (Rule of thirds): an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections. Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject. The Golden Rule was invented in Ancient Greece which shows that the painter was not only knowledgeable in Classical Culture but that he wanted to emulate it in his work and us its techniques. Additionally, the very lucid perspective of the painting which is quite realistic is also in rupture with the flatter medieval perspective that was the norm until then. Della Francesca's painting was considered scandalous in his time because the 3 dignitaries are not only much bigger than Christ being flogged but are also positioned in the foreground and occupy the main intersections of the golden ration rectangle. This was a breaking change of philosophy since giving human beings the most important compositional place within the frame expresses a humanist view. The Christ, who is much smaller and put on the background, symbolizes the reduced place of religion in society, a stark contrast with the ideology of the Middle Ages.
