“Perspective is to painting what the bridle is to the horse, the rudder to a ship”
– Leonardo da Vinci
In 1604, Dutch Renaissance architect, painter and engineer Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527 – c. 1607) published Perspective. In it he explored the relationship between linear perspective in an architectural space. He invites the reader to wonder how the structure of reality can be interpreted. Can a flat canvas or page show space, time and the infinite? How can we free ourselves from a perspective imposed by the popular technology of the day?
Inspired by Serlio’s Seven Books of Architecture, de Vries presents a number of architectural scenes, each with a cat’s cradle of markings to illustrate sight lines and vanishing points. As his drawings get more complex, they take on a life of their own, becoming more art than design. But ultimately, perspective ties us to a particular view.
“And perspective it is best painter’s art. For through the painter must you see his skill / To find where your true image pictured lies …”
– William Shakespeare, 24th Sonnet
“If you look, the eye is always moving. If it isn’t, your dead. This means there are hundreds of vanishing points not just one.”
– David Hockney
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