Pictorial Space

Picture plane the two dimensional picture surface.

Pictorial space. Pictorial space is the illusory space in a painting or other work of two dimensional art that seems to recede backward into depth from the picture plane giving the illusion of distance br br the birth of the modern concept of pictorial space can in part be traced back to 14th century serial narratives that depict a shallow and sometimes cluttered landscape such as in barnaba da modena s adoration of the child. A change in pictorial space the impressionists treatment of pictorial space was also often unusual. Pigment any color ing agent made from natural or synthetic substances used in paint s or drawing materials.

Traditional academic artists tended to favor centered closed and balanced compositions such as david s oath of the horatii in which the action is carefully staged for the viewer at a measured distance back from the picture plane. The smaller objects and figures in the distance look as though they are on the same plane as the larger objects in the foreground.