Renaissance Linear Perspective

Timeline

1. c. 1415–1435Florence · FlorenceBrunelleschi conducted perspective demonstrations at the porch of the Florence Baptistery, and Alberti's 1435 On Painting systematically expounded the principles of the vanishing point, horizon line, and the cone of vision in geometric language, establishing the theoretical foundation of linear perspective.
2. 1571–1580Rome · RomeBy the 1570s linear perspective had become standard training for painters, architects, and stage designers in Italy and Europe; the Vasari school tradition and the spread of prints embedded perspective norms in religious painting, city views, and theater scenery, and Venetian painters such as Tintoretto also applied perspective flexibly in their late works.
3. c. 1600–1700Rome · RomeIn the 17th century Baroque artists developed multiple vanishing points, oblique perspective, and illusionistic ceilings (quadratura) on the basis of single-point perspective, extending perspective from Renaissance rational space into a tool for dramatic visual experience.