Perspective: Quick Facts

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limestone ostracon depicting a cat, a boy, and a mouse magistrate

Leonardo da Vinci: Adoration of the Magi

Figure 1: Two techniques of representing an object. (A) Perspective drawing, suggesting that the object is cubical. (B) Orthographic top and front views, revealing that the object is not cubical.

Projective drawingThe sight lines drawn from the image in the reality plane (RP) to the artist's eye intersect the picture plane (PP) to form a projective, or perspective, drawing. The horizontal line drawn parallel to PP corresponds to the horizon. Early perspective experimenters sometimes used translucent paper or glass for the picture plane, which they drew on while looking through a small hole to keep their focus steady.

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geometric perspective parallel perspective central projection impossible figure Aerial perspective Anamorphosis Linear perspective Foreshortening one-point perspective Ames Room Printmaking calligraphy Drawing Graphic design Rock art computer graphics greeting card 13 Artists Who Died Untimely Deaths graffiti Brush

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drafting: Perspective

Key People

Self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci drawn in red chalk, showing an elderly man with long hair and a flowing beard, with a serious, contemplative expression.

Leonardo da Vinci

Italian artist, engineer, and scientist

Leon Battista Alberti

Leon Battista Alberti

Italian architect and author

Filippo Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi

Italian architect

Piero della Francesca: The Flagellation of Christ

Piero della Francesca

Italian painter

Brook Taylor, detail of a gouache miniature by Joseph Goupy; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Brook Taylor

British mathematician