A Brief History of Linear Perspective
Before the invention of linear perspective, and without a working knowledge of vanishing points or the horizon, artists had a number of ways to create depth in a painting. One early technique was to place objects closer to the viewer lower in the composition, and to place those farther away higher up. Another was to overlap figures, because any figure that cuts off another from view was in front of that figure. Linear perspective didn’t formally appear until the early 1400s.
The invention of linear perspective is generally attributed to the architect Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446), designer of the dome of the Duomo in Florence. He suggested a system that explained how objects shrink in size according to ...
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