The Ottoman Fleet Blockin... , by Nasuh Al-silahi

If you have read my previous post you know about how artists interpreted what they saw onto their canvas and how they created techniques to depict their scenes in the past. From figurative cave art to Hellenistic monumental structures with exaggerated 3 point perspective emphasis we have taken a short tour of art history, and we have come to the last millenium. Now we will continue our trip by firstly understanding the medeival era and the period prior Renaissance.

Up until the Renaissance artists had become aware of perspective due to their predecessors in history. However, although many methods were developed to translate vision onto painting, these methods were not fully successful: they were either too theoretical or unpractical to apply to painting.

Meanwhile many artists were painting in miniature style, as you can see in the symbolic map to the left. This style was commonly used by the Eastern civilizations as well as in medeival Europe prior to the Renaissance. These artworks resemble the axonometric drawing technique used to draw technical items. Paintings were drawn as if seen by the eyes of a giant. Of course perspective was not present in this style, therefore lines did not converge in the horizon but went parallel to each other. Even after the perspective technique was found artists continued to use this style, especially in the eastern civilizations.

Pietro Perugino's usage of perspective in this fresco at the Sistine Chapel (1481–82) helped bring the Renaissance to Rome.

Now if we return to what artists were upto in the Renaissance, we see that they have come very close to finding out the mystery they have been searching for centuries.

Filippo Brunelleschi was also in pursuit of correctly interpreting his work on the canvas. The famous Renaissance architect used a mirror to draw the baptistry from the incomplete Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo), which he had designed and engineered. His technique with the mirror was theoretically right, but still impractical. The depth of the picture was calculated right, however, the heights of objects were graphically depicted.

Scene from Durer's "Cours..., by Albrecht Dürer

With Brunelleschi’s findings perspective became a fashionable way of painting, lines converged in the horizon, and the heights were graphically estimated. This method was better than none. A while after, in 1435 Leon Battista Alberti published his mathematical explanation of the perspective. He had solved the problem by using rays of light and similar triangles to calculate the heights of distant obects. This established the basis of the perspective drawing technique we use today. 

Well, now you can ask; “So What? How does this make perspective the most important discovery of the last millenium?” Until now you must have thought that the title was a bogus to catch more traffic. I must admit it is a catchy title, but with the content of this post I am sincere with my thoughts that perspective really is that important in the history of art and science. How is that? Let’s see:

Vitruvian Man, c.1492, by Leonardo da Vinci

The discovery of the perspective drawing technique has also triggered things other than painting, drawing and art in general. Together with the later discovery of the continent of America, Galilei’s discovery of the world being a sphere and not flat; in the following century perspective has shown us that man is not an object of inspection by the heavens any more. This finding of the visual cone has shown the Renaissance man that he is not only at the center of his own vision, but he is also at the center of the universe. Thus, emerges the “universal man“.

The Universal Man concept of the time has created an urge for people to see, to reinvestigate their environments with a new, enlightened, open mind. Vision and intellect had become rational. Knowledge became a blessing.

Of course all of this was a movement of the time. We cannot connect it all to perspective. However, I can admit perspective was one of the most important things that altered the way people thought. The notion was that all the knowledge in the world was available to man, and that for a man to be perfect he should know about many things or let’s say everything. Da Vinci, Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Alberti … were masters of science and art, all universal men of their time.

Cell structure 3D image by Ivan Dinev

Perspective has been used to elaborate realistic paintings up until the invention of the camera and photograph. The date of this invention has yet again changed the way we perceive. Artists have changed their outlook on vision again. But this is the subject of another post I will be writing later on.

For over a decade now 3d design and rendering has taken the reign over from perspective hand drawings. No more do we need to understand the mystery of perception. Instead we need to learn digital interfaces of certain computing programs. Interpreting what we see is upto digital instruments, which create stations for us to distribute and receive knowledge. Vision has changed again. Man is still the center of his own universe, but the centralization has become dispersed and so has knowledge.

Where do we stand in our age? Where have we come to after the universal man? How do we perceive our worlds? The motto “What you see is what you get” no longer stands. The new version is “How you see is how you get.”

Well I guess we have come to a point where we understand that how we see alters us and the world around us. How do you see? Are you at the center of your universe?

Further Reading:
Perspective (graphical) @ wikipedia
Perspective in Mathematics and Art
Perspective history @ museum of graphical art
Drawing Techniques @ about.com

Related Reading:

Michelangelo (Icon Editions)

Acting for the Camera: Revised Edition

The Life of Michelangelo