Tactile - tactile values

A quality that refers to the sense of touch. Art historian Bernard Berenson coined the phrase Tactile Values in his 1896 book "Florentine Painters of the Renaissance". He used the phrase to distinguish paintings that create the illusion of three-dimensionality from less-skilled works that convey only two dimensionality. Berenson asserted that three-dimensional seeming paintings imparted a special sense of touch that was uniquely characteristic of Renaissance paintings. He opined that these Renaissance paintings with Tactile Values were superior to other 'two-dimensional' paintings. Sources: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"; Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; (LPD)