Perspective
Piero della Francesca. Ideal City (1475). Oil on canvas.
What is Linear Perspective?
• a system for
representing threedimensional space on
a two-dimensional flat
surface
• developed in Florence
in the early 15th
century by Filippo
Brunelleschi and
Leon Batista Alberti
drawing machines
The Invention of Linear Perspective
Development of Linear Perspective
• Filippo Brunelleschi
(1377-1446) was the
sculptor and architect
who demonstrated the
principles of perspective
through mathematics
• In 1415, Brunelleschi
painted his picture of the
Baptistery on the surface
of a small mirror, right on
top of its own reflection.
The Baptistery in Florence
Brunelleschi’s “Peep Show”
• To demonstrate the fact that
his painting was indeed an
exact replica that could fool the
eye, Brunelleschi drilled a
small hole in the mirror and
then stood directly in front of
the Baptistery, looking through
the peephole to see the real
building.
• He then held up a second,
clean mirror in front of his
painted panel. The second
mirror blocked the view of the
real building, but now reflected
his painted version on the
original mirror.
Brunelleschi’s “Peep Show”
• By holding up the panel
and pressing the hole to
one eye while holding a
mirror with the other
hand, the viewer could
see the painting’s
reflection.
• A viewer standing in the
cathedral doorway could
check the painted illusion
against the real view.
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72)
• architect and writer who was the first to
formulate rules that artists could follow
• imagined the picture surface as an “open
window” through which a painted world is seen
• showed how a perspective “checkerboard
pavement” is created within the picture space—
in which the receding parallel lines represent the
visual rays connecting the spectator’s eye to a
spot in the distance
Leon Batista Alberti
• based his system on the height of the human figure, being 3 braccia tall
• drew a rectangular picture area, imagined as an open window
• divided the ground line into scaled braccia
• fixed the central vanishing point by drawing a vertical line three braccia high
from the center of the ground line
• drew diagonals—orthogonals—joining the ground line to the vanishing point
Application of Linear Perspective
• Brunelleschi devised the method of
perspective for architectural purposes.
• He is said by Manetti to have made a
ground plan for the Church of Santo
Spirito on the basis of which he produced
a perspective drawing to show his clients
how it would look after it was built.
• We can compare this drawing with a
modern photo of the actual church.
Application of Linear Perspective
Brunelleschi's proposal drawing of the
interior of Santo Spirito (1543)
Interior of Brunelleschi's Santo Spirito
Early Approaches
Prior to the Renaissance, artists were
less concerned with the illusion of
reality and more concerned with the
content and symbolism of their work.
Ancient Egyptian
• only the front planes
of objects are shown
• figures assembled
from separate views
• depth suggested by
overlapping forms
Byzantine/Medieval
Duccio di Buoninsegna. The Virgin and Child with Saints (c.1315).
Egg tempera on poplar.
• the gold backgrounds suggest majesty and internal light
• denies any sense of depth, allowing figures to inhabit a spiritual space
• figures, however, modeled in light and shade
Defining Space Before the
Renaissance
The size of each element in the image
related much more to its importance,
rather than it's placement in a space.
Judging by the Eye
• Giotto introduced a
new kind of realism
by creating
convincing spatial
arrangements.
• He angles the
building, removing
side walls to reveal
the cubic interior.
Giotto. Birth of the Virgin Mary (1320s).
Fresco.
Judging by the Eye
• The sense of depth is
partly achieved in this
painting by the
diminishing size of the
floor tiles.
• The receding lines of the
floor converge toward a
single focus (vanishing
point), although the other
receding diagonals
converge toward points
higher up in the picture.
Ambrogio Lorenzetti. The Presentation
in the Temple (1342). Tempera on wood.
Judging by the Eye
• Dutch master van Eyck
created highly convincing
interiors and landscapes
by relying on his own
observations rather than
theoretical rules.
• In this painting, an
intimate interior is created
by the sloping lines of the
boarded floor and
beamed ceiling, the
relative size of objects,
and the use of light.
Jan van Eyck. The Arnolfini Marriage (1434).
Oil on oak.
A convex mirror, like the one in the
painting, may have been used by
van Eyck as a compositional aid.
The Renaissance
Masaccio: a “hole in the wall”
• Ten years after the
invention of linear
perspective, Masaccio
applied the new method
of mathematical
perspective even more
spectacularly.
• This fresco’s painted
architectural framework is
so carefully constructed
that it could almost have
been translated from an
architectural plan.
Masaccio. The Trinity (1427). Fresco.
A “hole in the wall”
These lines eventually
meet at a distance point
on the horizon line.
The barrel vaulted ceiling is incredible in
its complex, mathematical use of
perspective.
Paolo Uccello: Playful
Measurement
• explored the
geometry of nature
and objects
• studied how to solve
perspective problems
• combined scientific
probing with the love
of pattern and
splendor
Chalice
Perspective: Eye Levels
Normal Viewpoint
Paolo Uccello. The Hunt in the Forest (1460s). Oil on canvas.
High Viewpoint
Low Viewpoint
Bramantino. Adoration of the Kings (1498). Oil on panel.
Piero della Francesca: Divine
Measurement
Piero dell Francesca. The Flagellation (1460). Tempera on wood.
Piero della Francesca: Divine
Measurement
• perspective so logical
and precise that
scholars have been
able to reconstruct
the room as if it were
real architecture
• architectural
proportions and
dimensions reflect the
divine order of things
Andrea Mantegna: Eyewitness Art
• perspective of the
oculus constructed
according to the
upward gaze of an
observer standing
directly below
Andrea Mantegna. From The Painted
Room (1465-74). Fresco.
Andrea Mantegna: Eyewitness Art
• Christ shown in a
dramatically
foreshortened pose
• heavy head propped
on a pillow so that his
features can be seen
• feet projected out of
the picture so viewer
can focus on gaping
wounds
Andrea Mantegna. Lamentation Over the
Dead Christ (1480). Distemper on canvas.
Perspective Foreshortening
• Foreshortening is based
on studies from life as
well as perspective
principles.
• Figure is encased in a
gridlike “box” divided into
equal units.
• When box is laid on the
ground, the units diminish
as they recede.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Explorations
The Last Supper (1497). Fresco.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Explorations
The Last Supper (1497). Fresco.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Explorations
The Last Supper (1497). Fresco.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Explorations
• To seem like an extension of the refectory,
the vanishing point—which is on Christ’s right
eye—should be lower, at the spectator’s level.
• Instead, it is about 15 feet above the floor
level.
• The strong pull of the perspective, however,
“lifts” the viewer from the floor to the correct
viewpoint—a strangely spiritual phenomenon.
Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan
Albrecht Dürer
Perspective, Human Anatomy,
and Proportions
Albrecht Dürer
• He traveled to Italy to
learn about
perspective.
• Besides his great
studies of
perspective, he was
also interested in
human anatomy and
proportion.
Melancholia (1514). Copper engraving.
Dürer’s Perspective Aid
• frame consisted of
wooden
stand
• grid threads probably
made of
silk
The Draftsman’s Net
Dürer’s Perspective Aid
• The grid is used by the artist to copy the outline of the model’s form
onto a squared drawing surface
• An eyepiece, fixing the artist’s viewpoint, is positioned at a specific
distance—twice the frame’s height—from the device.
• The closer the net is placed to the object, the more foreshortened
the perspective.