Before the Renaissance, paintings and drawings showed scenes that were flat and wonky, with angles that careened all over the place. It also gave the impression of chaos. Where are we supposed to focus in this image? The dudes in the red robes, the stuff on the shelves, the weird armadillo monster in the bottom right, or the miniature guy (a kid?) with the lamb? Everyone here is busy doing something, and none of it makes any sense.
An image from a pre-Renaissance illuminated manuscript
Then in the early 1400s, artists began to see the world differently. Suddenly, with the invention of perspective, they were able to create realistic scenes that felt dimensional, stable, and consistent.
A mural by Raphael
It also helped them tell a story with more impact. It turns out that perspective lines focus the eye onto a specific point, whether or not the viewer is aware of it. It creates visual hierarchy. If all the angles in an image converge onto a face, that becomes the most important figure.
Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" with perspective lines applied
What is perspective? In art, it's a combination of a horizon line (our eye level) and one or more vanishing points (where all the lines we see converge). Everything we see conforms to that science.
Bigger than that, though, it means what it sounds like: it's what we see from our point of view. No matter where we stand in a room or landscape, we bring our horizon line and vanishing points with us. If we give someone a glimpse of what we see through a photograph or artistic rendering, they share our perspective. It's personal, subjective. It changes every time we move our heads.
I could get all philosophical about how every human thinks their perspective is the right one, that everyone sees the world the way do, and it's easy to deceive yourself into thinking you have the right to impose your viewpoint on others (and maybe bomb another country in the process)...but I'll just stick with a simple message: perspective is always subjective. Yet it still adheres to the same rules, no matter who is looking and what they're looking at. And if you break those rules, your scene just looks wonky.
Art Heals
I've always loved classical painting. It started with my love for illustrated children's books and expanded into fine arts. One of my favorites is Jéan-Léon Gérôme, a French academic painter in the late 1800s. In 2010, I got to see a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. His paintings were breathtaking.
This painting shows the brilliance of perspective, and what an artist can do with it. Not only are the perspective lines (which you can see in the steps and the wall trim) angling toward the figure in black (the Cardinal), but so are the action lines. The staircase lines sweep around to point at him. All the figures are looking at or leaning toward him. Even the angle of the lamp bracket and the guard's axe guide the eye toward that figure. And the red stripes in that flag pull the eye right down to his head.
