<H2><u><B>III. The Renaissance </B> </u></H2>

Part 1: The discovery of linear perspective

a) Filippo Bruneschelli

Bruneschelli was a practical man and he publicized his theories at common market places. He used the so called "peepshow experiment" as a demonstration of the rules of perspective. In the demonstration, one had to compare the real image of a Florentine Baptistery with the mirror image of a picture painted after his principles. One saw the reflected image through a whole in the back of the painting, positioned exactly at the vanishing point. The reflection of the Baptistery image was indistinguishable from the actual Baptistery. Much research has been done about Bruneschelli's original perspective construction method and it is his scholar Massaccio(1401-1428) who applied his theory marvelously to painting. Massaccio is also one of the first painter to illustrate an oblique point.

To obtain Bruneschelli's original perspective construction (after the analysis of Kern, Mathematik und Mahlerei, by Wolff) click here. Go on to next section: b) Leon Baptist Alberti

Return to the table of contents.