Dr. Kim H. Veltman
Illustrations
1. Three kinds of pseudo-perspectival methods: visual angles in the Bedford Hours and Schwenter's Practical Geometry (1618); vertical axis or fishbone perspective in wall decorations at Boscoreale and Cryptoporticus and inverted perspective in Giotto's St. Francis Cycle, Assisi and in a detail from a Chinese handscroll in the British Library (17th c.).
2. Duccio's Maestà as an example how recurrent use of spatial scenes serves to connect different episodes in a story. A detail from the Maestà and a similar polygonal building in Piero della Francesca's treatise on perspective about 180 years later as an example of how practice precedes theory.
3. Three further cases of how painting practice precedes perspectival theory.
4. Parallels between construction of space in churches: St. Pierre in Aulnaye le Santage and Notre Dame in Paris; reconstruction of space in the Baptistery of the Palace of the Kings of Majorca in Perpignan and representation of space in Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise and the Limbourg Brothers' Presentation of the Virgin in the Très riches heures de Duc de Berry.
5. How a given spatial motif of a barral vault recurs in different contexts and media: fresco in Masaccio's Trinity; marble in D. da Settignano's Tabernacle in San Lorenzo (Florence), fa‡ade of the Civic Hospital in Venice; fictive space in Bramante's Choir in Santa Maria presso San Satiro (Milan) and Borromini's illusionistic colonnade in the Palazzo Spada (Rome).
6. Further examples of the same spatial motif in Bellini's Sketchbooks, a painting of the Mystic Figure of Christ in the National Gallery (London), and in Donatello's Study for a Flagellation in the Uffizi (Florence).
7. Combinations of this motif with other motifs such as the shell form in Piero della Francesca's Brera Altar (Milan) or with a cross vault in Cima da Conegliano's Saint Peter Martyr, also in the Brera (Milan) and theoretical treatment of these motifs in treatises by Piero della Francesca and Serlio.
8. The motif of a portal as a spatial device in Northern art.
9. The same motif in Italian art and architecture.
10. The motif of a cutaway wall as a spatial device in Northern practice and theory.
11. Italian examples of the same motif.
12. The interior of a room as a spatial device in Northern painting.
13. The same device in Pollaiuolo's Annunciation (Berlin). Comparison of the window motif in Italian and Northern art.
14. Colonnades as a spatial device in architectural interiors in Italian and Northern engravings: Scamozzi, Vredeman de Vries and Cornelius Loos.
15. Further examples of the same motif in architectural exteriors: Benedetto da Maiano's facade of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Arezzo), Barozzi's view of a loggia in the Uffizi (Florence) and from a treatise by Vredeman de Vries (1601).
16. Church interiors as a spatial motif in sixteenth century Northern practice ( Pacher, Altdorfer), and theory (Rodler, 1531).
17. Church interiors as a spatial motif in seventeenth century Northern theory (Hondius) and practice (Steenwyck II).
18. Tombs as a spatial device in Northern (Vredeman de Vries, 1633), and Italian (Galli Bibiena,1740) treatises.
19 Church interiors as a spatial motif in eighteenth (Heinecke, 1737) and nineteenth century treatises (Guiot,1845), La Gournerie, 1884).
20. Seventeenth century painting by Neefs and a twentieth century photograph of the cathedral at Antwerp. Preparatory drawing vs. finished painting in two views of the Grote Kerk in Haarlem by Saenredam.
21 Saenredam's preparatory drawings and painting of the town hall in Amsterdam.
22. Perspective brought not only spatial representation but also a systematic treatment from different viewpoints. Two views of the main market place and Grote Kerk at Haarlem by Berckheyde.
23. Two further views of the same by Ouwater and Berckheyde.
24. Perspective also introduced systematic rendering in different scales. Views of the orphanage at Amsterdam in different scales. Egnatio Danti's maps in the Room of the Globes in the Palazzo Vecchio (Florence).
25. Five views of the Netherlands in different scales in the atlas of Gerard de Jode (1578) and in Vermeer's Allegory of Painting in the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna).
26. Views of Zürich in different scales in an altar by H. Leu, the elder (1497-1502) and Hohenberg's atlas of European cities (1582). Maps of different scales together in the Gallery of Geographical Maps in the Vatican.
27. Views of the earth and heavens in different scales in the work of Ptolemy, Dürer and Barbaro.
28 There were two basic methods of perspective in the Renaissance. One was based on geometrical diminution, illustrated here with examples from Alberti, Piero della Francesca, Serlio and Barbaro. This subsequently became associated with the distance point construction.
29. Further examples of this method in treatises by Pélerin (1505), Androuet Du Cerceau (1576) and Galli da Bibiena (1740).
30. A second method known as the legitimate construction became identified with demonstrations involving perspectival windows, such as those illustrated by Alleaume (1643).
31. More complex examples of intersections using the window principle in Marolois (1633), Hamilton (1738) and Monge (1838).
32 Study of intersecting planes in perspective was closely linked with conic sections in the treatises of Lencker (1571), and Frézier, who applied these principles to practical problems of stone cutting.
33. In the nineteenth century perspectival study of conic sections was frequently dealt with in the context of descriptive geometry as in these examples from Cloquet (1823) and Tilscher (1865).
34. In the latter half of the nineteenth century perspectival study of conic sections became ever more abstract as in Tilscher (1865) and emerged as an independent theme in mathematical literature.
35. The regular solids were a significant theme in treatises on perspective as illustrated by Dubreuil (1642-1649), Courtonne (1725) and Highmore (1763).
36. Study of the regular solids went hand in hand with interest in spatial representation of the semi-regular solids by Leonardo (c.1496-1499), Jamnitzer (c.1560-1565) and Sirigatti (1596).
37. This interest, combined with goldsmiths' activities as jewellers, led to ever more extravagant forms in the treatises of Jamnitzer (1568) and Sirigatti (1596).
38. Religious forms such as the cross became a theme of perspectival play in the treatises of Halt (1625), Kirby (1755) and a subject of modern symbolism in a painting by Salvador Dali in the Metropolitan Museum(New York).
39. Letters became another theme of perspective in the treatises of De Bry (1615), Lencker(1596), Haesel (1672) and Stoer (c.1567).
40. As early as the 1470's the PP Master in Ferrara was exploring perspectival treatment of semi-regular shapes. Beams and columns became a favoured theme in the popular treatise of Dubreuil (1642-1649).
41. Musical instruments, particularly lutes were a frequent perspectival theme in inlaid wood (e.g. the Ducal palace at Urbino), in paintings such as Holbein's Ambassadors and later in treatises by Jamnitzer (c.1560-1565) and Sirigatti (1596).
42. Chairs were another favoured theme in treatises on prespective and anamorphosis by Vasari, Jr. (1594), Dubreuil (1642-1649), and Nicéron (1646) and have remained important in our century through the Ames demonstrations and recent art by Daniel Berset (1986).
43. Stairs have been another constant theme in treatises on perspective by Barozzi (1583), Heinecke (1727), Charles Wilson Peale's painting (Boston) and Vredeman de Vries (1633). Escher's work provides both further examples and subtle variants as in the case of his paradoxical Waterfall (1961).
44. Architectural columns have been an important theme in treatises on perspective as in these examples from Blum (1550), Nic‚ron (1646), Bosse (1648) and Bretez (1751).
45. More complex examples of the same theme from Pozzo (1706), Kirby (1755) and Huret (1670).
46. Shadows became a theme in treatises on perspective through Barbaro (1568 based on Drer, 1525) and increasingly important in the work of Highmore (1763), Dubreuil (1642-1649) and Cloquet (1823.
47. Nineteenth century wxamples of shadows as a theme of perspective in treatises by Cloquet (1823) and Gennerich (1865).
48. Links between sundial projection, regular solids and perspective in treatises by Welper (1708) and Bosse (1648).
49 Further connections between sundials and perspective in Huret (1670), Welper (1708) and Maignan (1648).
50 Reflections and perspective in treatises by Dubreuil (1642-1649), Valenciennes (1803) and Cole (1921).
51. Further examples of reflection in treatises on perspective by Jeaurat (1750), Cloquet (1823), Robert (1905) and Brook Taylor (1749).
52. Reflections in convex mirrors in a fifteenth century Boccaccio manuscript (Paris, BN), and in a painting by Petrus Christus in the Metropolitan Museum (New York). Practical use of such convex mirrors may have been responsible for the curvilinear effects in the miniature by Fouquet (Chantilly) and a painting by Witz (Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum).
53. Plane mirrors and perspective by a member of the school of Fontainebleau and Velazquez as well as in treatises by Stevin (1605) and Highmore (1763).
54 Perspectival instruments in treatises by Drer (1532), Pfintzing (1599) and Faulhaber (1610).
55. Further perspectival instruments in treatises by Barozzi, il Vignola (1583), Marolois (1633) and Martius (1789).
56 Perspectival pantographs in Lencker (1571), Marolois (1633), Grollier de Servière (1719) and Watson (19th c.).
57. Camera obscuras and perspective in treatises by Kircher (1646) and Bettini (1645).
58. Links between perspectival instruments and surveying in treatises by Hulsius (1605), Dubreuil (1642-1649), Werner (1763), Specklin (1579) and Bosse (1648).
59. Connections between Roman ruins and perspective as illustrated by Du Pérac (1575), Piranesi (1740) and a modern photograph by Herschel Levit (1976).
60. Links between townscapes and perspective in two watercolours of the former court at Innsbruck, attributed to Dürer and engravings from a treatise edited by Rodler (1531).
61. Links between perspective, building practice and machines in the Sketchbooks of Bellini, a painting by Piero di Cosimo (Sarasota, Ringling Museum of Art) and in a treatise edited by Rodler (1531). Machines perspectivally rendered subsequently became an independent genre through authors such as Ramelli (1588).
62. Links between perspective, architecture and landscape in a treatise by Edwards (1805).
63. Further examples of perspective, architecture and landscape from Edwards (1805) and Kirby (1755).
64. Multiple views of a scene in Edwards (1805).
65. Perspective and townscapes in Wood (1809), Edwards (1805) and Tilscher (1865).
66. Perspective and secular interiors from P‚lerin (1505), Dubreuil (1642-1649), Marolois (1633) and Albrecht (1623).
67. Further examples of perspectival interiors from Rodler (1531), Bischoff (1741), Wood (1809), and Bartschi (1976).
68. Perspective and geometrical treatment of the body in Dürer (1534), Barbaro (1568), Sch"n(1538), Braccelli (1624), the author of the Codex Huygens (c.1570) and Coke (c.1720).
69. Perspectival effects caused by looking up from below (di sotto in su) in a painting by Titian (London, National Gallery), a fresco by Francesco and Bernardino Galliari (Bollate, Villa Castellazzo, c.1572), and in a treatise by Bosse (1648).
70. Perspectival effects produced by looking down or up at human bodies in a painting (Milan, Brera) and a fresco (Mantua, Camera degli Sposi) by Mantegna and treatises by Cousin le jeune (1595), the author of the Codex Huygens (c.1570) and Carlo Urbino (c.1570).
71. Perspectival effects caused by looking up (di sotto in su) at Luca Giordano's Apotheosis of Sant'Andrea, Florence, Chiesa del Carmine and looking down (di su in sotto) at a courtyard in Vredeman de Vries' treatise (1633).
72. Perspectival effects caused by looking up at a painted architectural ceiling in the Marciana Library in Venice and a related engraving from Barozzi, il Vignola (1583).
73. Related effects in Pozzo's ceiling in Il Gesù (Rome), in treatises by Pozzo (1700), Has (1583), and an engraving by Escher (1947).
74. Perspective in inlaid wood (intarsia) in the Ducal Palace at Urbino and the Cathedral at Todi.
75. Further examples of perspective applied to inlaid wood in a treatise by Stoer (1567), in the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma and a writing desk made at Augsburg (c.1560).
76. Links between chiaroscuro and perspective in paintings by Van der Weyden and Van Eyck.
77. Perspective and chiaroscuro applied to architectural contexts in the Villa Borghese (Rome) and the Pitti Palace (Florence).
78. Use of perspective to separate scenes in a painting by Uccello (Urbino), a Boccaccio manuscript (Munich, BSB), the stage at Vincenza and the gardens at Versailles.
79. Related effects in the Royal Palace at Caserta and in a stage set by Galli Bibiena (1740).
80. Links between perspective, stage scenery and Venetian architecture in a drawing by Serlio with parallels in Cesariano's edition of Vitruvius (1521) and a painting by Canaletto (1726-1729).
81. Links between perspective and Roman ruins in Peruzzi and Serlio.
82. Colonnades as a recurrent motif in Cesariano's edition of Vitruvius (1521), a drawing from the school of Bramante, treatises by Serlio (1583) and Barozzi, il Vignola (1583), drawings by Benozzo Gozzoli and Donato Bramante (Uffizi) and in a painting by the Master of the Barberini Panels (New York, Metropolitan Museum).
83 The development of this motif in Annunciation scenes in Bellini's Sketchbooks, paintings by Crivelli (London, National Gallery) and inlaid wood by Fra Damiano di Bergamo.
84. Perspectival cutaway effects in Roman ruins by Serlio, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, (based on) Brunelleschi and (attributed to) Donato Bramante.
85. Engravings by Pieter Stevens in Marolois (1633) of the Antonine Baths and Emmaus, illustrating how perspective applies equally to archaeological record and anachronistic reconstruction.
86. Idealized ruins in a detail from Mantegna's Saint Sebastian (1480, Paris, Louvre) and engravings by Androuet Du Cerceau.
87. Idealized architecture in a treatise by Vredeman de Vries (1633) and in a painting by Steenwyck II (London, National Gallery).
88. Perspective applied to make architectural features look closer at Caprarola, the Capitoline in Rome and the Villa Frascati at Aldobrandini.
89. Perspective applied to make features of the landscape appear further at Ryxdorp, Würzburg, Chenonceaux and Versailles.
90. The regimentation of Nature to fixed geometrical patterns to produce perspectival effects in Dubreuil (1642-1649).
91. Other examples of the regimentation of Nature in drawings by Wolf Huber (1526, 1511-1513), and treatises by Dubreuil (1642-1647) and Bosse (1648).
92. Perspectival gardens in treatises by Androuet Du Cerceau (1584) and Vredeman de Vries (c.1600).
93. Perspective applied to the whole environment in a painting of Versailles (1668) and in a treatise by Decker (1711)
94. Interplay of engravings by Vredeman de Vries (1560,1569) and Cock (1566) showing imaginary buildings and real architecture of the Armoury at Wolfenbüttel (early 17th c.).
95. Interplay of real architecture of the Uffizi in Florence, an engraving thereof as if it were a stage set and actual stage sets in Torelli (1644) and Vasari Jr. (c.1594).
96. Interplay of real and imaginary architecture illustrated by a round temple that serves as a Roamn ruin (Francesco di Giorgio Martini), a plan for a mausoleum (Leonardo da Vinci), a temple in a painting of an ideal city (attributed to Giuliano da Sangallo and Domenico Ghirlandaio), the Renaissance Tempietto in Rome (Bramante) and an engraving thereof in a book on Roman ruins (Androuet Du Cerceau).
97. Further examples of interplay between ideal and real, historical and imaginary architecture: an engraving of the Temple of Jupiter by Androuet Du Cerceau and the background to Raphael's Mystic Marriage of the Virgin (Milan, Brera); a temple associated with Troy in Androuet du Cerceau (c.1540) and Bramante's Plan for Saint Peter's; a view through the columns of the Palazzo del Te in Mantua and Androuet Du Cerceau's (1551) engraving of an imaginary ruin.
98. Use of perspective in the interplay between Nature and artifice in a grotto by de Caus (1620), a stage setting by Galli Bibiena (1740) and Le Lorrain's painting of a sea port (Paris, Louvre).
99. Perspective in the interplay between reality and illusion: engravings of the real Orangerie and Trompe l'oeil arch at Rueil and Galli Bibiena's (1740) illusionistic scene of a garden and arch.
100. Trompe l'oeil figure and façade at the U.S. embassy in Paris.
Last Update: August 1, 1998