a deep tradition

Pre-renaissance art's perspective treatment largely matured in Europe between the 13th and the 15th centuries. Cimabue, an artist of the Byzantine style, attempted to reconcile the limitations of two-dimensional media with his own burgeoning naturalism. Although the Byzantine typically appeared flat and highly stylized, Cimabue's figures took on an organic appearance. In his paintings, proportions were more accurately depicted, and shading was used to lend the works a life-like quality. Though he began a naturalistic movement that would be epitomized in his student, Giotto di Bondone, his own grasp of natural perspective was rather limited. Cimabue's frescoes and altarpieces use occlusion of figures and basic lines of architectural perspective to indicate the third dimension, but rarely contain subjects interacting in more than one depth plane. The apparent size of the figures, as these were primarily sacred works, is often not intended as an indication of distance but of the figure's import to the composition.

Giotto's figures were stolidly three-dimensional, depicted with natural anatomy, and positioned accurately within stylized natural scenes, which often resembled theatrical sets. Although the characters within his work, most notably the interior of the Scrovegni Chapel, were quite lifelike, Giotto's backgrounds often consisted of simple elements. He used these primarily as repoussoir devices to direct the viewer's eye, and not to depict a three-dimensional scene. Despite this, the architectural elements in his work are themselves portrayed accurately, although they are often positioned like set-pieces among disproportionate figures.

The pre-renaissance art of the Florentine and Sienese schools relied on perspective styles that were relatively innovative in context, but that still failed to accurately depict the three-dimensional aspects of space. This would continue to be the case until Filippo Brunelleschi, an architect, invented the theory of linear perspective with his artistic experiments. The use of a single vanishing point and linear perspective allowed Brunelleschi to accurately depict the buildings he built, surveyed, and examined. Hyper-realism reigned, as well, in the work of the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck. Although he was active in the early 15th century, van Eyck's work displays a mastery of perspective rarely seen in his day. Though not strictly faithful to Brunelleschi's linear perspective, his work delighted in the detailed depiction of reality. In his Arnolfini Wedding, van Eyck portrays a simple indoor scene with a mastery of proportions. The crystal chandelier is of such perfect perspective that debate still rages over whether it was possible to paint without an optical aid. Jan includes a mirror, in which the scene is reflected and distorted, signing the frame "Johannes van Eyck hic fuit 1434", or 'Jan van Eyck was here 1434'. His mastery seems almost brash.

Though it was a long evolution to the 3-dimensionality of van Eyck, artists came to understand that linear perspective plays a major role in the perception of depth. As art's focus moved from its stylistic and hieratic aims to realism/naturalism, and eventually back to the abstract, the gains made in the portrayal of perspective continued to appear. Even in the face of the photograph, art has remained largely constant in its fidelity to our perception of depth.

Jan van Eyck
Filippo Brunelleschi