Linear perspective gives a picture a viewpoint

Slide 1

Linear perspective connects painted space to a viewpoint

Linear perspective organises a flat image so that space appears to recede. It relates depicted positions to a chosen viewpoint.

Slide 2

Receding parallel lines meet at a vanishing point

In one-point perspective, a set of parallel lines receding directly away from the viewer converges towards a vanishing point in the picture.

Slide 3

Repeated edges guide the eye into that space

A tiled floor or repeated architectural edge can make perspective easy to recognise. Its receding pattern gives the eye a route into painted space.

Slide 4

Brunelleschi experimented; Alberti described a method

Brunelleschi's experiments in Florence helped establish an influential perspective system. Alberti later described a method for painters in De Pictura.

Slide 5

Netherlandish painters built convincing space in other ways

Early Netherlandish painters also made persuasive pictorial spaces. Their practice did not simply duplicate the formal Italian system.

Sources

• Perspective glossary

  National Gallery

• European Renaissance Art, part two

  National Gallery of Art