Darkness and depth in early Renaissance painting

Contrast has always been appreciated as a significant factor in image quality, but it is less widely recognized that it is a key factor in the representation of depth, solidity and three-dimensionality in images in general, and in paintings in particular. This aspect of contrast was a key factor in the introduction of oil paint as a painting medium at the beginning of the fifteenth century, as a practical means of contrast enhancement. However, recent conservatorship efforts have established that the first oil paintings were not, as commonly supposed, by van Eyck in Flanders in the 1430s, but by Masolino da Panicale in Italy in the 1420s. These developments led to the use of chiaroscuro technique in various forms, all of which are techniques for enhanced shadowing.