The Mathematics of Drawing in Perspective

1. The Mathematics of Drawing in Perspective

2. Pre-Renaissance • Era was characterized by: • unrealistic proportions • size indicating importance • unnatural appearance of objects

3. Joachim and Anna Meet at the Golden Gate

4. Renaissance Period • Period between mid 1400s and 1800s • Came about because of the Scientific Revolution which increased the interest in the human body and a realistic viewing of surroundings • Majority of works in art as well as other fields were controlled by the church. They were the largest commissioner of art during this period.

5. Painting Methods • Subject matter was determined by the person paying for the work. • Fresco Painting: Artists painted on wet plaster applied directly to the wall. • Oil and Water Color Painting: Not as widely used.

6. Changes in Mathematics • There was a growing need for everyone to learn mathematics because of increased trade. • Common Currency and Central Bank • Changes in University Studies • Trivium: grammar, logic, rhetoric • Quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy

7. Filippo Brunelleschi • First to paint in perspective • The Baptistery and Town Square • Unusual viewing practices • The Baptistery was to be seen through a pin hole • The Town Square cut at the tops of the buildings

8. Leon Battista Alberti • First to publish written account of how to correctly construct a perspective painting nearly twenty years after Brunelleschi • Was not written for the artist, but for the patron • Description of how to create a pavimento

9. Paviamento Constructions • Basic Construction • Extravagant Construction • Ultra-Extravagant Construction

10. Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Presentation of Christ in the Temple

11. Pierro Della Francesca • Major Contributor to Perspective Drawing • Known as an artist as well as a mathematician • Wrote three treatise: The Abacus Treatise, Short Book on the Five Regular Solids, On Perspective of Painting

12. On Perspective of Painting • Was written for drawing in perspective, and not other aspects of painting • The treatise was divided into three separate books. • Piero uses Euclid’s Elements to justify his work as well as prove an original theorem

13. Piero's PavimentoOn Perspective of Painting Book 1

14. On Perspective of Painting:Book 2 • This book explains how to draw shapes based upon the pavimento • Objects such as columns, platforms, and other polygons can be built based upon the pavimento

15. The Flagellation of Christ

16. On Perspective of Painting:Book 3 • The final book deals with objects that are harder to draw such as molded bases of columns and human heads. • He introduces a new method of drawing in this book which is introduced by using a square as an example.

17. Perspective Square

18. Domenico Ghirlandaio • Know for meticulously mapping out his paintings before starting. • One of the best perspective painters of the Renaissance

19. Michelangelo Buonarroti

20. Other Methods • Calculating the mathematics was not the only way for an artist to draw in perspective • Instruments were created to make this process easier for the artist