From the last few articles, I was really conscious of explaining the term Linear Perspective due to its complex nature. I could have directed a credible source to learn about it, but they would teach you only the online words. And based on your hunger to comprehend it, I decided to write this article in lucid language with in-depth knowledge. You might raise a question here as an intelligent reader would do. Why is it crucial to learn about a term invented in earlier centuries? So, the answer is simple, to get fantastic results in your art and architecture and witness the world with an extraordinary eye and technique. Often, we get confused when it comes to solving perspective problems, so to make a way out, we are learning about linear perspective and its usage. So, let us jump right into the reading (and learning of course).
Linear Perspective Definition
Linear Perspective is a mathematical technique first developed and practiced by artists during the Renaissance period to help depict a scene on a flat surface, making it look like reality. It consists of a vanishing point, located on the composition’s horizon line, where all the parallel lines (orthogonal) meet.
History and Background of Linear Perspective in Art and Architecture.
In the outline of the history of Mathematical Thought by Max Bense, he distinctly stressed and called the reciprocal effect of mathematics and art the most crucial subject in history. An emphasis on these chapters confirms that the development of linear perspective was a mathematical discipline that further aimed to become a means of creativity, contributing to forming some of the epic artworks we see today. In addition, there is a parallel development of the perspective with colors forming aerial perspective, which we saw in Renaissance artworks. Furthermore, before we learn about the linear perspective, you must know about a few polished facts on the Renaissance, as we began to acknowledge its existence only during this era. So, Renaissance painters thoroughly researched the anatomy of the human body to make their figures look real. It is safe to say that anatomy and linear perspective became the basis of Renaissance paintings.
Knowing this, let us learn about it from the historical point of view.
From the earlier records, we know that science came much after the subject of art. It is also visible from tracing the beginnings of the developments of perspective from the past that the practice started as the solution of representing the world as a three-dimensional medium. The paleolithic drawings and paintings of Altamira and Southern France witness the first usage of perspective to do so. They included pictures with linear and colored representations of animals in profile with foreshortening of the figures to provide them with some depth.
The early art of Babylonians, Egyptians, and Persians does not provide relevant proof of using perspective in the medium of their paintings. However, in the sixth-century art of the Greeks, you can considerably witness the concept and see its influence on the artistic world. You must note that Greeks knew about using perspective through their relations with Middle Eastern countries and India, who were much better with their dimensions.
In the treatise The Meaning of Perspective (Tuebhingen 1953), Bernhard deduced that it was the Greeks who discovered the perspective to show the conceptual reality of any subject. Furthermore, Bernhard demonstrates that the first phase of perspective development came from a vase dating to the middle of the fifth century, where images of bodies were compressed and positioned to illustrate perspective. Although it was still developing, there were terms such as body perspective and partial perspective correctly describing them.
You see word scenography, a Greek derived that essentially means stage setting for perspective, indicates the origin of spatial perspective. So, we have one more argument here depending on the above-stated fact, which is neither the vase nor the mural paintings, but that the stage paintings were the first representation of realistic settings. Now avoid getting confused with the stage setting terminology, as it simply indicates columns, roofs, doors, or windows of a house. Damian explained it by saying,
“Scenography is a part of optics and is concerned with how buildings must be reproduced in paintings.”
Furthermore, in 460 BC, a philosopher, Anaxagoras, established the first scientific theory of perspective when it started to develop with scenography. In the context of discussing light theory, Democritus, Euclid, Heliodorus, and Hero, who laid the groundwork for Ptolemy, all studied perspective.
By now, you have the hints of the beginning of the linear perspective. But we still have an entire journey till the Renaissance period to understand the perspective. So keep going in the section.
You might have heard the name Vitruvius, a prominent architect of Augustus. The book he wrote, De Architectura, had a lasting effect on the artistic output of the Romans and succeeding generations. Vitruvius highlighted that the ancients already knew a definite scope of what we call today a horizontal plan, vertical plan, and perspective projection of an object. Moreover, he stated that any design must include an ichnography (picture on the ground), a horizontal plan, an orthography (upright picture of the front), a vertical plane, and a scenography (contour of the front side and disappearing sides).
Moving forward, you might have captured the idea by now that the development of perspective was not a continuous evolution as it passed through the transitional period from Antiquity to the Renaissance. One point here to prove the above fact is that between the Romanesque and Byzantine paintings, there is a wide gap in using perspective. In the Byzantine period, perspective was not a tropical feature of art, and it wasn’t until the eleventh century that an optics book discussed the problems of perspective, which was then translated to Latin and enlarged by German pole Vitellio. A pupil of Giotto, Lorenzetti, made the first vanishing point of the horizontal single plane. In his painting, Annunciation, you can see the vanishing point through the tiled floor of the composition.
Next, Brunelleschi, an architect and builder of the dome of Florence Cathedral, became the true founder of Linear perspective. He knew the terms- vanishing point, horizon, and probably the distance between the object and picture plane. Masaccio, a leading painter, then put this theory into practice for the first time in his paintings. Following them, a versatile architect, Leon Battista, wrote a book De Pictera in Latin in 1511 about the perspective. He made the origin of the grid to determine the size ratios and spatial depth in the drawings.
Now, till now, the perspective was like a mathematical concept for an architect or a mathematical composition in paintings. It was only Paolo Uccello, who was the most eminent artist of the fifteenth century, who rendered the Linear perspective correctly. He was the first to draw plants from nature and leaves in perspective range. As art history proceeds, the paintings The Dead Christ by Andrea Mantegna and Da Vinci’s Last Supper made us realize how crucial perspective was.
Finally, you know much more history about the Linear perspective than any art student nearby. Moving forward, it is now time to see those outstanding paintings of the heavy implication of Linear perspective to have an image of how it makes a difference.
Examples of Linear Perspective in Art From History.
1. The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci.
The Last Supper painting represents a biblical passage where one of the apostles of Christ betrays him.
In this section, I will brief on how linear perspective is related to it. The painting depicts Christ as the central figure in the middle of his twelve disciples, as an equal number has gathered. And of course, there is a contrast, which exists between Christ and his disciples through expansive movements and emotional expressions. Now, where do you see the perspective?
Consider the figure of Jesus a triangle, the holy trinity, what we call. Through the centration of the triangle, every other figure was constructed by perspective construction, showing the room of composition with projected length lines and edges of ceilings, tables, and floors like a one-point linear perspective.
Don’t get entangled thinking about the heavy terms, as I will let you know everything from scratch later in the article. The images are a reference for a rough practice so that you at least gather some thoughts around.
2. The Adoration of the Magi by Leonardo da Vinci.
The unfinished painting by Da Vinci has much importance in history due to its perfect constructive perspective. Here, one must notice that there are too many figures so it might be difficult to trace the exact point of vanishing points. Leonardo made the foreground first hand and then the figures and animals. In comparison to The Last Supper, the perspective point does not lie at the center, rather lies somewhere else. But, here too, the eye is first drawn towards the horseman and his rearing mount, providing a dramatic accent.
3. San Marco From the Arcades of the Procuracies Nuove by Canaletto.
You must know that the perspective was most formerly preferred for architecture as we studied from the history section. In painting, however, there have been few artists who have beautifully depicted the concept at first. Canaletto expressed linear perspective in painting too well through the buildings and cities he drew. It may be due to the reason that his father was a scenic painter, and he might have developed those exclusive lessons of perspective from him. Further, Baroque art teaches the comprehensive knowledge of perspective, and so does the camera Obscura, which is the other reason Canaleto developed his artistic works.
In this artwork, the significant part of architecture is represented by a frontal perspective from a frog-eye view because of the low horizon to get a monumental look at structures. Hence, when you see the painting, it seems you are standing somewhere below and the buildings lie long above your head. It is due to the use of linear perspective.
Furthermore, there is a shift of the center of gravity to the right. At first, the observer’s eye is attracted to the two figures in the right foreground as they are located towards the center of perspective.
Similar to them, there are other paintings like Sketch for a Ceiling Fresco by Gottfried Bernhard Goetz, The School of Athens by Raphael, and The panel painting Still Life in Puzzle Perspective by Ludwig Adam Kelterborn, which are great examples of linear perspective in art.
It is finally the time when I make you aware of all the words you read and felt confused. Even if you are new to this topic, don’t worry; I will sort everything out for you.
Understanding the Geometrical Basics of Linear Perspective.
1. Linear Perspective.
Rather than defining linear perspective again, I would now explain it by giving an example. A pen lies in front of you at some distance, and you have to draw it in the same form that anybody who looks at your picture might see with the same proportion and distance the pen currently lies. Tell me, how would you draw it? Maybe you can take a larger canvas to do so, but what if you have to include a building or a figure instead of the pen? In that case, you can’t possibly build a canvas of the same height. To solve this problem, perspective enters your court.
Shortly or Briefly, linear perspective or any kind of perspective is the way of forming an object with the same look as it appears in actual life, placed at the same spot.
2. The Picture Plane.
All the planes where you can draw a picture, whether a paper, canvas, project, film, or screen, is the picture plane.
3. Ground Plane.
In simple terms, the ground plane is the horizontal surface below the horizon. It may be a plane, hill, or slope. The only thing you need to remember here is that in the case of a hilly or sloped ground plane, the vanishing point may not be present on the horizon.
4. Horizon.
Horizon is the line that indicates the sky meeting land or water. Think of your dog’s eye. For him, the objects you see similar in height to your eye are larger. So, you can say the horizon is any line, which has vanishing points and tells you the eye level of the scene.
5. Orthogonal Lines.
Orthogonal lines are all parallel lines that lead towards the vanishing point. If a cube is in perspective, then all the orthogonal lines will form right angles extending from its corners, as orthogonal means right angle.
6. Vantage Point.
It is the place or point from which the scene is viewed. Do not get confused between vanishing and vantage point. Also, the placement of this point affects both the horizon and the vanishing point.
7. Vanishing Point.
It is a point where all the parallel lines appear to merge together. For example, when you stand still to see a long road ahead, you will feel that it finally ended at a farther point, though it hasn’t in actuality. This point where you witness that it has diminished is the vanishing point. You must remember that a scene can have as many vanishing points as the artist or scene requires.
The definitions you read will help understand different kinds of perspectives. I have already told you about linear perspective, so it’s time when we switch to learning its different types.
Types of Linear Perspective in Art.
1. One Point Perspective.
One-point linear perspective is the perspective with just one vanishing point, and typically it will appear in the center of the scene. The figure would make you understand how a one point perspective scene looks.
To draw a box based on a one point linear perspective, follow these steps:
- Sketch a horizon and vanishing point on the top of the taper. Now draw a square in the lower foreground of the paper.
- From each corner of the square, draw orthogonal lines receding towards the vanishing point.
- Now sketch a back square, and erase all the unwanted lines.
2. Two Point Perspective.
A two point perspective is typically a linear perspective with two vanishing points. Whichever scenes use this kind of perspective typically have vanishing points placed at opposite sides at a far distance.
To draw a box using a two point perspective, follow these steps:
- Sketch the horizon with two vanishing points- extreme right and left. Now draw a straight line vertically below the horizon in the foreground.
- From both ends, draw orthogonal lines with each vanishing point.
- Add two vertical lines, one to the left of the corner and the other to the right front corner.
- Sketch four more orthogonal lines passing through these new sidelines.
- And finally, sketch a back corner and erase all unwanted lines.
3. Three Point Perspective.
Similar to the two point perspective, it has the same vanishing points with an addition to a third one either below or above the horizon. With this kind of perspective, you can either look down or up at the subject.
To draw a three point perspective box, follow these steps:
- Sketch a horizon with three vanishing points.
- Now sketch a line coming up from the lower vanishing point.
- Add two more lines at the top coming from the same point on the vertical line. One will move towards the left vanishing point, and the other will go in the right direction.
- Continue to add two more lines to form the top of the box from the left and right vanishing points.
- Add two lines that connect the top corners to the lower vanishing points.
- Place a point below the top lines of the box on the center vertical line. Sketch it one from the left vanishing point and the other to the right one.
- Add three lines each to go from a back corner to an opposing vanishing point and remove unnecessary lines.
Final Words.
After reading this article and practicing a few basic figures through the linear perspective, you can now easily make more figures and practice them efficiently. I hope you can easily recognize the paintings that have used this concept with a glance. If you have any questions regarding the practice and if there is anything I left, you can use the comment section to reach me, and I will try to answer the query or include the point for better understanding.
Resource.
Perspective for the Absolute Beginner: A Clear & Easy Guide to Successful Perspective Drawing by Mark and Mary Willenbrink.
Frequently Asked Questions.
Linear perspective is a method based on mathematical principles used to depict art on a flat canvas, represented in the same manner as in reality.
Though linear perspective was refined in the Renaissance and Baroque periods, the method dates back to an unspecified period through which it has continued to evolve everywhere it went. So there is no conclusive evidence to say the artist who first developed it. However, Ambrogio Lorenzetti was the first artist (noted) to exhibit linear perspective in his painting Annunciation, and Filippo Brunelleschi was the first to introduce its different terms. Lastly, Alberti explained it mathematically in his book De Pictera.
Linear perspective is a technique that is used in art to create an illusion of space and depth as well as in architecture and interiors to bring extraordinary effects of vision and perspective in real life.
For an art to have a linear perspective, the painter must need to understand the concept and its different geometrical elements. Further trying to replicate the reality is one of the important chapters that can help to master it with time. To practice and learn more, read this guide that lists the crucial information as well as easy steps on how to develop the different types of linear perspectives.
The three types of linear perspectives are one point perspective, two point perspective, and three point perspective; all having a distinct vanishing point to create a dissimilar illusion.
The easiest example of linear perspective is the traveling of two parallel lines ultimately meeting at the end. However, some examples of linear perspective in art are The Last Supper by Da Vinci, The Adoration of The Magi by Da Vinci, and The School of Athens by Raphael.
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