For centuries, the Renaissance is known as a time of artistic genius and innovation. Architecture, sculpture and painting in particular saw rapid improvement in realism as skilled hands began working in oil paints. But did technological tools enable these unprecedented advances or was it technical skill alone?

Originally released by Inside Science, 2017. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on September 25, 2017.

How Optics Helped Artists Create Better Paintings (4:01);