Perspective

PerspectiveOne-point Perspective

Two-point Perspective

Three-point Perspective

Terms of note

• Sight Line (SL) - imaginary line emanating from the eye of artist/viewer

• Station Point (SP) - location of eye of artist/viewer• Vanishing Point (VP) - infinitely distant point where

parallel lines converge• Picture Plane (PP) - window through which the

artist/viewer’s observed scene is captured• Horizon Line (HL) - horizontal line at the height of

station and vanishing points

Sight lineVanishing

Point

StationPoint

StationPoint

PicturePlane

One-point perspective

• The sides of objects run parallel or perpendicular to the Sight Line

• Parallel lines moving into the space vanish to a single point (Vanishing Point)

• Station Point can be surmised from location of Vanishing Point and distance between regular intervals into space

• Very stable compositions

Two-point Perspective

• The side of objects are ANY angle BUT parallel to the Sight Line

• Parallel lines vanish to two points on the Horizon Line (VP1 & VP2)

• Each object at a different angle in relation to the sight line will have its own two Vanishing Points

• More dynamic compositions

Three-point Perspective

• Includes vertical diminution of object as well as horizontal diminution

• Begins with typical one-point or two-point perspective, but adds vertical to that system

• Parallel lines vanish to a single point• Objects diminish to a “Zenith” if vanishing

above the horizon line, or a “Nadir” if vanishing below

• Very dynamic compositions, often with a powerful sense of power (powerful or powerless)

• We will spend the next 2 months observing and creating perspective systems

• We will draw in the classroom from observation and from our imagination

• …Let’s spend some time observing how other artists have observed and interpreted perspective

“The Campo di Rialto”By Canaletto

Perspective is 1-point because all objects are parallel or perpendicular to sight line.

A single vanishing point is discovered.

“Piazza San Marcos”by Canaletto

Vanishing points from one building do not line up with vanishing points from the other. Why?

A photo from almost the same spot reveals that the buildings are not entirely parallel to our sight line. Therefore each of the

buildings is actually in 2-point perspective.

“321 Club”by someone with a lot of free time

We see the lines on one side of the building receding to one point, and the other side to a different point.

“Last Supper”by Leonardo da Vinci

•We must use the architecture of the room to divine the vanishing point•Lines intersect at a point at the elbow of the man in the doorway•We can take from this that the eye of the “viewer” is directly at this spot

“Las Meninas”By Diego Velazquez

“The Allegory of Painting”By Johannes Vermeer

• We can use the tiles on the floor to determine the vanishing point

• The tiles are square and are tilted at a 45° angle from the sight line

• Lines through the corners of tiles reveal the vanishing point for a one-point system

• This reveals the position of the viewer to be at level with the bottom left corner of the map’s adorned dowel

Significance of Perspective in Art

• Perspective can increase trust in an image• Horizon Lines and Vanishing Points direct the viewer

in subtle ways to see the image ‘correctly’ from a certain specific place.

• Paintings with perspective will often lead the viewer to the artist’s original Station Point

• The Picture Plane of a painting is another subtle way to instruct viewers on how to understand the meaning of the image (are we near or far from the action?)

• An understanding of perspective can greatly enhance your confidence in creating worlds from your observation and even imagination