Why was the perspective ignored during the dark and middle ages?

Answer 1

Perspective was not ignored, exactly. It was different; it was just not linear perspective. There are a number of different types of perspective, and linear perspective is just one of them.

One type of perspective, though not used much in Europe, makes understanding the difference easy; it is called aerial or atmospheric perspective. The Chinese used this often to separate the foreground, perhaps figures of travellers on a road walking by a tree, from the background, mountains in the distance. They are separated by a mist or haze which makes the distance apparent.

The problem with linear perspective is that it required a mathematical type of discipline and training that medieval people were not prepared for. So it was lost for some centuries.

Medieval artists used approximations of linear perspective, in which the treatment of perspective is unsystematic. The result was that object appeared warped, though there was a clear attempt to make them take on the appearance of distance or foreshortened. Medieval artists also sometimes used reverse perspective, a system in which objects appeared larger, rather than smaller, if they were more distant. Sometimes they used systems in which more important objects or people appeared larger than less important.

The recovery of linear perspective required a systematic approach to the subject and a specific, disciplined study of it. This happened in the Late Middle Ages.

There are links below.

Answer 2

Perspective was not ignored, exactly. It was different; it was just not linear perspective. There are a number of different types of perspective, and linear perspective is just one of them.

One type of perspective, though not used much in Europe, makes understanding the difference easy; it is called aerial or atmospheric perspective. The Chinese used this often to separate the foreground, perhaps figures of travellers on a road walking by a tree, from the background, mountains in the distance. They are separated by a mist or haze which makes the distance apparent.

The problem with linear perspective is that it required a mathematical type of discipline and training that medieval people were not prepared for. So it was lost for some centuries.

Medieval artists used approximations of linear perspective, in which the treatment of perspective is unsystematic. The result was that object appeared warped, though there was a clear attempt to make them take on the appearance of distance or foreshortened. Medieval artists also sometimes used reverse perspective, a system in which objects appeared larger, rather than smaller, if they were more distant. Sometimes they used systems in which more important objects or people appeared larger than less important.

The recovery of linear perspective required a systematic approach to the subject and a specific, disciplined study of it. This happened in the Late Middle Ages.

There are links below.