[MUSIC PLAYING] DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: According
to Filippo Brunelleschi's biographer, he stood just
inside the main doors of the Cathedral
of Florence when he conducted his first
perspectile experiment. And that's where we're
standing right now. DR. BETH HARRIS: We're
very close to it. Brunelleschi's
experiment demonstrated that linear perspective could
produce an incredibly realistic illusion of
three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
So this notion that we can actually develop a
system that would be relatively easy to follow, but
highly accurate, that could translate the
volumetric world that we move through, through time, onto a
frozen two-dimensional surface is really an
extraordinary achievement. There is some discussion
among scholars as to whether or not there
was linear perspective in the Ancient World. But if there was, it was lost. And linear perspective
was created, at least for us in
the Modern World, by Brunelleschi in the
15th century, around 1420. DR. BETH HARRIS: Right. And so some people would say
that Brunelleschi rediscovered linear perspective in case
the Ancient Greeks and Romans had had it before him. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
Brunelleschi had gone to Rome and had studied antiquity. And some have hypothesized
that he developed the basis for linear perspective
in an attempt to be able to accurately portray
the buildings that he was looking at, that he was
sketching, that he was drawing. DR. BETH HARRIS: It's
certainly something that artists, beginning,
really, in the 1300s, were creating forums. They were creating human figures
that were three-dimensional by using modeling and making the
figures bulky and monumental. Then you have the challenge
of putting those figures within a believable space. Giotto and Duccio had
approximated that space and began to create a
kind of earthly setting for their figures, but had not
achieved a perfect illusion of space for their
figures to inhabit. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: As the
culture becomes increasingly analytical, mathematical--
it's a trade-based culture-- this is a culture
that, in some ways, may have demanded of its
artists a kind of precision, a kind of mathematical
accuracy, in its representation. And Brunelleschi delivers that. So what does he do? DR. BETH HARRIS:
Brunelleschi creates a perspectively accurate
image of the baptistery and its surround. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: Right. So Brunelleschi
develops a system with just a few
essential elements and, through these elements,
is able to construct accurate, scientific,
one-point perspective. They include a
vanishing point, which is at the viewer's
horizon line, as well as a series of orthogonals,
or illusionistically receding diagonals. What Brunelleschi
then does is he paints or draws an
image of the baptistery with linear perspective
and puts a small hole in the center of it. He takes that small drawing or
painting, puts a handle on it, and holds it in
front of his face-- but facing away from him. He then takes a mirror and
holds it in back of that. Now remember, his painting
has a small hole in it. So he can see through it
straight to the vanishing point. DR. BETH HARRIS: So he's holding
the mirror at arm's length and the actual painting
with the hole in it right in front of him for
his eye to look through. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: Right. So he can see the painting's
reflection in the mirror. And if he pulls
the mirror away, he can see the actual baptistery. And he can bring the mirror
back to see the painting, move the mirror away to
see the actual baptistery, and see if, in fact, those
lines are well coordinated. And it was a very
convincing experiment. DR. BETH HARRIS:
What Brunelleschi saw in the reflection
of the painting looked exactly like the reality
that was in front of him. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: This would
have the most profound effect on the history of Western art. Virtually every painting
in the Western tradition, after the 15th
century, is responding to linear perspective--
either adopting it or very consciously
rejecting it for some reason. DR. BETH HARRIS:
And within a couple of decades after
Brunelleschi's discovery, Alberti, the brilliant
architect and theoretician, writes a book called "On
Painting," in which he codifies Brunelleschi's
discovery and creates a manual
for artists of how to use linear perspective and
how to make great paintings. [MUSIC PLAYING]
