1. "Perspective is the rein and rudder of painting"
Leonardo da Vinci

2. Linear Perspective is a geometric method of representing on paper the way that objects appear to get smaller and closer together, the further away they are.

3. The invention of linear perspective is generally attributed to the Florentine architect Brunelleschi, and the ideas continued to be developed and used by Renaissance artists, notably Piero Della and Andrea Mantegna.

4. The first book to include a treatise on Perspective, ‘On Painting’ was published by Leon Battista Alberti in 1436.

5. Pictures before perspective

6. Slide 12-1: Inital word panel of Psalm from the Kaufmann Haggadah
Slide 12-1: Inital word panel of Psalm from the Kaufmann Haggadah. Spain, late 14th C. Keller, Sharon. The Jews: A Treasury of Art and Literature. NY: Levin Assoc
These perspective errors appear in paintings usually done before 1400.
The perspective lines usually converge, but not to a single point and not on the horizon.

9. Masaccio (1401-c.1428) is considered by many to be one of the triumvirate, along with Brunelleschi and Donatello, who laid the foundations for the Renaissance in Italy.

10. Masaccio's first known painting, the triptych Madonna and Child with Saints (c.1422) shows no sign of linear perspective.

11. However, three other paintings, all done in the last four years of his short life, do show perspective, and are the works on which Masaccio's fame rests.

12. Masaccio: Trinity usually considered to be the oldest surviving perspective painting. It is considered his most mature work.

13. One of Durer's Perspective Machines

14. Pictures after Perspective
Slide 3-1: RAPHAEL: School of Athens
Shows one-point (linear perspective)

15. PISSARRO In the Wood, 1862

16. MONET:Street in Ste. Adresse, c. 1869

17. SARGENT:A Street in Venice, 1882

18. HOMER Sleigh Ride, 1893