September 02, 2018 Sunday
Bedtime Story
Linear Perspective Experiment of Filippo Brunelleschi
Brunelleschi in his perhaps not-so-famous
experiment took one step further from where Alberti had left it off.
Brunelleschi while painting the Florentine
Baptistery on a grid made a hole in the center of this paining (the hole on the
canvas being made on the vanishing point) so that he would be able to see
through the hole.
Then he flipped the painting board such
that it faced away from him and held it close to his face with the right hand
(the painting canvas obviously not being too incommodious and cumbersome) such
that the hole in the painting stood very close to one of his eyes that he was
using.
He then took a hand-held and held it and
arm’s length with his left hand.
So what did he achieve with this kind of a
set up?
When the mirror stood in front of the
picture it allowed him to visualize his own painting.
On taking away the mirror that he held with
his left hand he was able to see the baptistery through the hole in the canvas on
the other side of which he was painting the very same baptistery.
Doing this back and forth he could make
quick comparisons between his painting and the actual baptistery in front.
This kind of swift juxtaposition of images of
his own creativity and the actual object allowed him rapid feedback mechanism
to make corrections in his artifact.
This in turn allowed him to preserve the
element of perspective intact.
With this technique he was able to create a
painting that was an exact replica of the targeted object.
Though to most it seemed that the primary
object of this method of painting was to get an exact replica of the object in
front, to Brunelleschi it was something different.
He was in fact attempting to get an image
on the canvas that had the likeness of the image that would be captured on a
mirror.
It was this kind of “realism” that he was
after as he believed that it is the ‘mirror-reflection image’ that captures the
image according to the Euclidean laws of geometric optics.
In those times this experiment turned out
to be a substantial accomplishment and progress in the application of rules of
perspective to art; it allowed one to copy reality with mathematical precision
or even build your own to exact specifications.
The technique spread quickly all over
Florence and from there it was hungrily acquired by artists all across the
Europe.
Even in modern studios this technique
remains a standard practice.
Yet another master of Florence of that time
who combined mathematics to the art of paining and introducing the geometry of
perspective in his art was Piero della Francesca of Florence.
We shall continue the story of this master
from Florence in the nights to come.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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