Perspective

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Perspective
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Piero della Francesca. Ideal City (1475). Oil
on canvas.
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What is Linear Perspective?

• a system for representing three-dimensional space
  on a two-dimensional flat surface
• developed in Florence in the early 15th century
  by Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Batista Alberti

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The Invention of Linear Perspective
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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
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Brunelleschis 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.   
   

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Brunelleschis 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 paintings
  reflection.
• A viewer standing in the cathedral doorway could
  check the painted illusion against the real view.

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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 spacein which the
  receding parallel lines represent the visual rays
  connecting the spectators eye to a spot in the
  distance

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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 diagonalsorthogonalsjoining the ground
  line to the vanishing point

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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.

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Application of Linear Perspective
Brunelleschi's proposal drawing of the  interior
of Santo Spirito (1543)
Interior of Brunelleschi's Santo Spirito
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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.

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Ancient Egyptian

• only the front planes of objects are shown
• figures assembled from separate views
• depth suggested by overlapping forms

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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

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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.

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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.
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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.
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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.
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A convex mirror, like the one in the painting,
may have been used by van Eyck as a
compositional aid.
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The Renaissance
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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 frescos painted architectural framework is
  so carefully constructed that it could almost
  have been translated from an architectural plan.

Masaccio. The Trinity (1427). Fresco.
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A hole in the wall
The barrel vaulted ceiling is incredible in its
complex, mathematical use of perspective.
These lines eventually meet at a distance point
on the horizon line.
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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
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Perspective in Wood

• trompe loeil wood inlay panels
• The private study of Federico da Montefeltro, the
  Duke of Urbino

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Perspective in Wood
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Perspective Eye Levels
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Normal Viewpoint
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Paolo Uccello. The Hunt in the Forest (1460s).
Oil on canvas.
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High Viewpoint
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Low Viewpoint
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Bramantino. Adoration of the Kings (1498). Oil
on panel.
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Piero della Francesca Divine Measurement
Piero dell Francesca. The Flagellation (1460).
Tempera on wood.
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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

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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.
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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.
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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.

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Leonardo da Vincis Explorations
The Last Supper (1497). Fresco.
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Leonardo da Vincis Explorations
The Last Supper (1497). Fresco.
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Leonardo da Vincis Explorations
The Last Supper (1497). Fresco.
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Leonardo da Vincis Explorations

• To seem like an extension of the refectory,
• the vanishing pointwhich is on Christs
  right
• eyeshould be lower, at the spectators
  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
• viewpointa strangely spiritual phenomenon.

Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan
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Aerial Perspective

• Leonardo da Vinci

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Aerial Perspective
Leonardo da Vinci. The Virgin of the Rocks
(1508). Oil on wood.
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Atmospheric Perspective

• a coloristic device used to accentuate the
  perception of distance
• based on the optical effect caused by light being
  absorbed and reflected by the atmosphere a
  mist of dust and moisture
• first used by Leonardo da Vinci

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Albrecht Dürer

• Perspective, Human Anatomy, and Proportions

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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.
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Dürers Perspective Aid

• frame consisted of wooden
• stand
• grid threads probably made of
• silk

The Draftsmans Net
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Dürers Perspective Aid

• The grid is used by the artist to copy the
  outline of the models form onto a squared
  drawing surface
• An eyepiece, fixing the artists viewpoint, is
  positioned at a specific distancetwice the
  frames heightfrom the device.
• The closer the net is placed to the object, the
  more foreshortened the perspective.

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Anamorphic Art

• Hidden Messages

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Anamorphosis

• refers to a deliberately distorted image, which,
  when viewed head on, is almost unrecognizable
• only when the image is viewed from a certain
  angle does it appear

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First Anamorph
Erhard Schon. Vexierbild or Puzzle Picture (1535)
When this fantastic landscape (on the left) is
viewed at a low angle from the left four
portraits emerge of Charles V, Ferdinand I Pope
Paul III and Francis I (shown at the right).
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Anamorphic Art
Hans Hoblein, the Younger. The
Ambassadors (1533). Oil on wood.
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Anamorphic Art

• An anamorphic image is an extreme case of
  perspective, where the viewpoint is at the side,
  and near the plane, of the picture itself.

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Drawing the Distorted Grid

• A square grid is placed over a
• scale drawing.
• The artist then draws a distorted
• grid onto which the design is
• transferreda side view in which
• the proportions are drastically
• altered but the points of the grid
• fall on the same place of the
• design.

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Anamorphic Art

• This portrait superimposes the long-nosed,
  compressed head of a young boy on a panoramic
  landscape.
• When the picture is viewed from the right-hand
  edge, the portrait is transformed into a living
  likeness of Edward VI.

William Scrots. Portrait of Edward VI (1546).
Oil on wood.