Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in an Art History class.

旁白：听一篇艺术史学科讲座。

As I was saying, the Renaissance period, which started in the 1400s in Europe, the Renaissance was still a pretty religious period, and that's reflected in the artwork of that time.

正如我所说，始于15世纪的欧洲文艺复兴时期仍然还是一段非常宗教化的年代，而当时的艺术作品反映了这一特征。

But artists were starting to experiment with a more secular point of view as well, a tendency to also use the natural world as the subject matter for their art.

但是艺术家们也开始用一种更世俗的角度来进行试验，也就是说，他们开始倾向于把自然界也作为他们艺术的创作对象。

And there were different ways that these natural themes were explored.

他们探索自然主题的方式有不同的方式。

For instance, many artists would paint portraits, while others, although this was more common in Northern Europe, would make landscapes the subject of their works.

比如，许多艺术家会画肖像画，而另一些会把自然风景当做他们作品的主题，尽管后一种情况在北欧更普遍。

But today I'd like to consider an influential Italian Renaissance artist, Leon Battista Alberti, who took a slightly different approach.

但今天，我想介绍一位有影响力的意大利文艺复兴时期艺术家-----莱昂·巴蒂斯塔·阿尔伯蒂，因为他的创作方式和别人略有不同。

Leon Battista Alberti was a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, poet, very wide-ranging interests, like Da Vinci or Michelangelo , the sort of guy for whom the term " Renaissance Man " was in fact created.

莱昂·巴蒂斯塔·阿尔伯蒂是一名画家、雕塑家、建筑家、音乐家和诗人。他的兴趣非常广泛，正如达芬奇或米开朗琪罗一样。对于这类人，事实上我们创造一个专门术语来形容他们----“文艺复兴人”（也即多才多艺博学之人）。

Alberti believed that the most important approach for a painter was to capture a story or narrative.

阿尔伯蒂认为，对于画家来说，最重要的创作方法是去捕捉描绘一个故事。

Now, as I've indicated, this narrative could be the religious or secular, depending on what the work of art was for.

注意，正如我所指出的，这个故事可以是宗教类的或者是世俗类的，取决于这件艺术作品的用途。

If the work was to be placed in a church, then obviously, it'd have a religious theme, whereas, if it was for someone's home, then it could deal with a different subject matter.

如果作品是要放在教堂里的，那么显然，它会有一个宗教主题， 然而如果是作为家中的装饰品的话，那么它可能会涉及一个不同的主题。

The exact narrative didn't really matter, so long as it was one that captivated the audience, that held the viewers' attention.

只要故事能吸引观众，抓住他们的注意力，具体内容并不重要

So, what is actually needed to tell a story?

所以，我们需要什么才能去讲述一个故事呢？

Well, Alberti needed characters, right?

嗯，阿尔伯蒂需要角色，对吧？

Human figures.

人物形象。

And he wanted to represent them as realistically as possible, to capture the viewers' attention.

为了获得观者的注意，他想要尽可能逼真地再现人物。

One way he achieved this was to make use of what's known as " the contrapposto pose ".

而他实现这个目的的方式之一就是利用所谓的“对应的姿势”。

A contrapposto pose basically entails showing a slight twist in the body.

一个对应的姿势基本上需要显示身体部分的一点点扭曲。

The shoulders and hips are usually bent in different directions.

肩膀和臀部通常向不同的方向弯曲。

In other words, if the left shoulder is bent, so that it's slightly higher than the right shoulder, then the hips will be bent, so that the left side will be slightly lower than the right side.

换句话说，如果左边的肩膀是弯曲的，使得它比右肩稍高一点的话，那么臀部也会是弯曲的，使得它的左边比右边稍低一些。

Similarly, in sculptures, most of the weight seems to be on one foot, which also results in this slanted position, making it seem like the figure is about to walk or move.

同样的，在雕塑中，大部分的重量似乎会集中在一只脚上达到一个倾斜的位置，使人物看上去好像是在行走或移动的样子。

This adds to the realistic aspect of the figure.

这增加了人物的真实性。

But there are actually a lot of things that could go wrong in the attempt to create such a pose.

然而，为了创作这样一个姿势，实际上很多事情都有可能会出错。

You could make a figure's arms bigger than its legs, or the head too small for the body.

你也许会把人物的手臂弄得比他的腿还要大，或者头的比例相比身体来说太小。

Messing up the proportions can leave a figure looking cartoon-like and unnatural.

搞乱了比例会让人物看上去像卡通人物，显得不自然。

But Alberti had a solution.

但是阿尔伯蒂有解决方法。

He encouraged artists to visualize a figures' bones and structure.

他鼓励艺术家去想象人物的骨骼和结构。

This would give the artist an idea of the proportions of the figure.

这让艺术家可以了解人物的比例。

From there, Alberti suggested that the artists imagine attaching the tendons and muscles, then covering those with flesh and skin.

由此，阿尔伯蒂建议艺术家想象着去固定筋腱和肌肉，然后再用皮肉覆盖它们。

Now, although this method may seem complicated, artists since antiquity have used anatomical observations to try to get the proportions of the human figure as accurate as possible, though obviously not to the degree that Alberti was recommending.

虽然这种方法可能看起来很复杂，但自古以来，艺术家们一直使用解剖观察来尽量准确地画出人体的比例， 尽管显然没有达到阿尔伯蒂所推荐的精度。

Now, in addition to characters, the setting is extremely important, especially when attempting to tell a story realistically.

嗯，除了角色以外，画面背景也极为重要，尤其是当你想要逼真地讲述一个故事的时候。

Renaissance artists essentially needed to create a three- dimensional scene on a two-dimensional surface.

文艺复兴时期的艺术家们基本上需要在二维平面上创作出一个三维场景。

They accomplished this by the use of perspective, a relatively new idea for artists at the time.

他们通过使用透视来完成这一目的，这对当时的艺术家而言，是一种相对比较新颖的想法。

In particular, the type of perspective that Alberti advocated was called " Linear One-point Perspective ".

其中，阿尔伯蒂倡导的那种透视法被称为“线性单点透视”。

In fact, Alberti was one of the artists who developed the geometry behind linear one-point perspective.

事实上，阿尔伯蒂是发展了线性单点透视背后的几何学的艺术家之一。

Linear perspective basically consists of drawing straight lines that extend from the forefront of the painting into the background, lines that seem to be paralleled to each other, but which actually converge on a single point in the horizon, called the vanishing point.

线性透视基本上是由绘画一些从画面前景延伸至背景的直线组成，这些直线看上去似乎是相互平行的，但实际上却是会聚焦在视野中的一个点上，这个点被称为灭点。

By drawing figures and objects smaller and smaller, as the lines get closer together, the artist is able to create depth in a painting.

通过把人物和物体画得越来越小，随着线条变得逐渐靠近，艺术家们就能够在画面中创作出深度。

This gives the illusion of a third dimension, and makes the work of art more realistic.

这就可以描绘出第三层维度，使得艺术作品看上去更加逼真。