During the 15th century, French artists built
on the achievements of Gothic painters (see
Chapter 13) and produced exquisitely refined
illuminated manuscripts. Among the most significant developments in French manuscript
painting was a new conception and presentation of space. Paintings in manuscripts took on
more pronounced characteristics as illusionistic scenes. Increased contact with Italy, where
Renaissance artists had revived the pictorial
principles of classical antiquity, may have influenced French painters’ interest in illusionism.
