“[A]rtists in Florence became increasingly aware of the new problems that [their] inventions had created. In the first place flush of triumph they may have thought that the discovery of perspective and the study of nature could solve all difficulties which are presented. But we must not forget that art is altogether different from science. The artist’s means, his technical devices, can be developed, but art itself can hardly be said to progress in the way in which science progresses. Each discovery in one direction creates a new difficulty somewhere else… As soon as the new concept of making pictures a mirror of reality was adopted [the] question of how to arrange the figures was no longer so easy to solve. In reality figures do not group themselves harmoniously, nor do they stand out clearly against a neutral background. In other words, there was a danger that the new power of the artist would ruin his most precious gift of creating a pleasing and satisfying whole… [The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian] show the way in which… Antonio Pollaiuolo tried to solve this new problem of making a picture both accurate in draughstmanship and harmonious in composition. It is one of the first attempts of its kind to solve this question, not by tact and instinct alone, but by the application of definite rules. It may not be an altogether successful attempt, nor is it a very attractive picture, but it shows clearly how deliberately the Florentine artists set about it…

“Once art had chosen the path of vying with nature, there was no turning back…”

Ernst H. Gombrich, “Chapter 13: Tradition and Innovation: Italy,” The Story of Art, 15th edition