Linear Perspective

Timeline

1. c. 1415–1435Florence · FlorenceThe architect Brunelleschi established the principle of single-point perspective through mirror and panel experiments; Alberti systematically expounded vanishing points, the horizon, and the visual cone in On Painting, transforming perspective from an artisan's secret into a teachable geometric method.
2. c. 1500–1600Europe · EuropeWorks such as Dürer's treatise on measurement introduced perspective to the German lands and the Low Countries; Spanish and French court painting absorbed the Italian model, and perspective became the standard means of spatial organization for religious painting, portraiture, and civic decoration.
3. 1611–1620Rome · RomePerspective had become internalized as the visual grammar of Baroque church ceiling paintings, stage scenery, and urban planning; artists in Rome and Venice extended the single-point system with multiple vanishing points and aerial perspective, serving Counter-Reformation visual propaganda and operatic stage illusionism.