Alberti's Perspective: A Mathematical Comment

Author(s): Judy Green and Paul S. Green

Source: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Dec., 1987), pp. 641-645
Published by: College Art Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3051003
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 Alberti's Perspective: A Mathematical Comment

Judy Green and Paul S. Green

The construction of a checkerboard pavement in perspective described by Alberti

in De pictura depends explicitly on the choice of a base line, the divisions along
it, a centric point, and a viewing distance. These choices do not in themselves
determine the result of the construction. The exact placement of the horizontal
parallels depends on precisely how one interprets Alberti's instructions. In partic-
ular, Grayson's and Parronchi's interpretations are, in principle, distinguishable
from one another by the results to which they lead.

In paragraphs 19 and 20 of Book I of De pictura, Alberti the other lines, the measure of what the distance should
describes a method of depicting in perspective a checker- be in each case between the transverse equidistant lines
board pavement, i.e., a pattern of squares receding from of the pavement.3
the viewer. Cecil Grayson's discovery, announced in 1964,1
of a previously unnoticed five-word phrase in some Latin The following considerations show that the choice of a
versions of paragraph 20 prompted a number of articles base line, the divisions along it, the centric point, and the
discussing Alberti's method for determining the placement distance between the viewer and the picture do not com-
of the horizontal lines of the pavement.2 The object of the pletely determine the depiction of a checkerboard pave-
present note is to offer some mathematically motivated ob- ment on the canvas. Following Samuel Edgerton, we use
servations, showing in particular how geometrical reason- the term "distance point" for the point from which Alberti
ing establishes a connection between the interpretation of draws lines to each of the divisions of the base line of the
the passage in which Grayson's discovery occurs and that auxiliary diagram.4 Alberti's construction requires that the
of a passage in paragraph 19. We will also see that different distance between the viewer and the picture, the viewing
interpretations of Alberti's construction may be distin- distance, be equal to the distance between the perpendic-
guished by the actual results to which they lead. ular and the distance point.5 If the distance point and the
Following is Grayson's translation of the relevant por- perpendicular are both moved horizontally in such a way
tion of paragraph 20, with the phrase he discovered in as not to change the distance between them, thereby not
italics: changing the viewing distance, then the horizontal parallels
shift, but always yield perspectively valid checkerboard
But as regards the successive transverse quantities I ob- patterns. The different possible placements of the distance
serve the following method. I have a drawing surface on point and the perpendicular yield infinitely many perspec-
which I describe a single straight line, and this I divide tively valid patterns, even after fixing the base line, the
into parts like those into which the base line of the rec- divisions along it, the centric point, and the viewing
tangle is divided. Then I place a point above this line, distance.
directly over one end of it, at the same height as the Examples of the effect of different placements of the dis-
centric point is from the base line of the rectangle, and tance point and perpendicular are given in Figure 1 for the
from this point I draw lines to each of the divisions of case in which the viewing distance is an integral number
the line. Then I determine the distance I want between of braccia, i.e., is equal to the distance between two (not
the eye of the spectator and the painting, and, havingnecessarily consecutive) points of subdivision along the base
established the position of the intersection at this dis-line, and by Figure 2 when this distance is not an integral
tance, I effect the intersection with . . . a perpendicular. number of braccia. In particular, it is evident that the base
. . This perpendicular will give me, at the places it cutsline becomes one of the horizontals of the pavement pre-

The authors came upon some of the publications on which this paper is
based in the course of preparing a mathematical discussion of perspective
as part of a historically oriented discussion of the ideas of projective ge-
ometry. They wish to thank Cecil Grayson for his helpful suggestions on
an earlier version of this note and to thank one of the Art Bulletin's referees
for calling their attention to Veltman's study.
1 C. Grayson, "L.B. Alberti's 'Costruzione Legittima,"' Italian Studies,
xIx, 1964, 14-28.
2 The ones with which we are concerned are Edgerton, 1966, and
Parronchi.
3 Grayson, 57.
4 Edgerton, 1966, 368. This distance point plays a role in Alberti's con-
struction analogous to the role of the distance point in the distance point
construction of, for example, Viator. However, the two constructions are
distinct and the meaning of the term distance point is not the same in the
two cases.
5 In the distance point construction, the viewing distance must
distance between the distance point and the centric point.

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642 THE ART BULLETIN DECEMBER 1987 VOLUME LXIX NUMBER 4

cisely when the perpendicular is positioned above a point as we have already noted, at least one of his diagrams il-
of subdivision on the auxiliary diagram (Figures la and 2b). lustrates a case where it does not.
In Grayson's rendering of Alberti's method, the distance According to Alessandro Parronchi's interpretation, the
point is constrained to lie over an end point that is im- auxiliary diagram is constructed directly on the (possibly
plicitly assumed to be a point of subdivision, so that only extended) painting surface, and the perpendicular is
Figures la and 2a are permissible. This has the consequence dropped from the centric point to the base line.12 In this
that the base line of the picture represents one of the hor- case, the base line represents one of the horizontals of the
izontals of the pavement if and only if the distance between pavement precisely if the centric point lies directly over one
the viewer and the picture is an integral number of braccia. of its points of the subdivision. Although Parronchi ex-
This point is not explicitly discussed in any commentary plicitly considers the possibility that the foot of the per-
we have seen, although Grayson, in the notes to his trans- pendicular from the centric point to the base line lies half-
lation of De pictura, illustrates his comments on paragraph way between two points of subdivision, he does not
20 by a diagram analogous to Figure 2a.6 In his diagram mention that, in this case, the base line does not represent
the viewing distance is not an integral number of braccia, a horizontal of the pavement."13
and the base line, accordingly, does not represent a hori- In a recent study on Leonardo da Vinci, Kim H. Veltman
zontal of the pavement. derives Alberti's checkerboard construction from a later
Edgerton, in his discussion of the same paragraph in the passage in De pictura14 describing a technique in which the
light of Grayson's discovery, describes the dependence of artist views the scene to be represented through a loosely
the construction on the distance between the viewer and woven veil. Accordingly, Veltman places the construction
the picture as follows: "The artist following these [Alber- in a three-dimensional context, with the plane of the aux-
ti's] instructions regulates his degree of depth illusion sim- iliary diagram perpendicular to the plane of the veil.15 In
ply by sliding the intersection back and forth from the dis- discussing how the horizontals can be transferred from the
tance point across the diagonals linking the ground line."'7 auxiliary diagram to the picture, Veltman describes various
In each of the diagrams accompanying Edgerton's discus- placements of the auxiliary diagram in the plane of the
sion, the sliding intersection comes to rest at a point of painting.16 In contrast to our discussion above, Veltman
subdivision, so that in each the base line represents a hor- moves the entire auxiliary diagram, including the base line
izontal of the pavement. Certainly the single-step bifocal and its points of subdivision, and always shows the per-
method from which, Edgerton speculates,8 Alberti's method pendicular passing through a point of subdivision. Thus
may have been derived, always makes the base line rep- every version of the construction considered by Veltman
resent one of the lines of subdivision of the pavement. Ed- leads to a checkerboard pattern in which the base line is
gerton does not appear to have noticed that if Alberti's one of the horizontals.
method is indeed as reconstructed by Grayson, the sepa- One can make similar analyses of other Renaissance
ration into two steps introduces the possibility that the base methods of perspective construction with checkerboard
line need not represent one of the horizontals of the pavements and of their modern interpretations. Closely re-
pavement. lated to the costruzione legittima is one of Leonardo's con-
The foregoing suggests a connection between the section structions.17 He starts with a trapezoid, assumed to be the
of the text in which Grayson's discovery appears and an perspective representation of a square, and shows how to
earlier passage of which the interpretation appears still to find the viewing distance and how to extend any system
be somewhat at issue: ". .. and this bottom line of the of equal subdivisions of the base line to a system of per-
rectangle is for me proportional to the next transverse equi- spective squares subdividing the given perspective square.
distant quantity seen on the pavement."9 Although the starting point is quite different, the final stages
If one follows Joan Gadol in construing the passage as of this construction may be expressed in terms of Alberti's,
specifying that the base line represents one of the horizon- where the perpendicular is erected at one end of the base
tals of the pavement,10 then, as we have noted, the per- line and the distance point is on the opposite side of the
pendicular must lie over one of the subdivisions of the base perpendicular from the original trapezoid. Both the for-
line in the auxiliary diagram. Grayson's discussion of the mulation of the problem and the accompanying diagram
passage11 appears to leave open the question of whether suggest that both ends of the base line are points of sub-
Alberti intended the base line of the rectangle always divisionto and therefore the base line is one of the horizontals
represent one of the horizontals of the pavement. However, of the final pattern.

6 Grayson, 113. 12 Parronchi, 37.

7 Edgerton, 1975, 46. 13 Ibid.

8 Edgerton, 1966, 375. 14 Grayson, 69.

9 Grayson, 55. 15 Veltman, 389 and 394.
10 J. Gadol, Leon Battista Alberti: Universal Man of the Early Renais- 16 Ibid., 389-90 and 395-96.
sance, Chicago, 1969, 46. 17 Ivins, 23. Also see Veltman, 60-61.
11 Grayson, 112.

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 NOTE 643

la The distance point lies above a point of subdivision and the perpendicular meets a point of sub

lb The distance point does not lie over a point of subdivision and the perpendicular does not mee

Figure 1 and Figure 2 each depict perspective drawings of a

checkerboard pavement with the same distance between the
perpendicular and the distance point. In Figure 1 the viewing
distance is 3 braccia, while in Figure 2 it is 22/3 braccia.

The construction described by Filarete, which is much

not involve a perpendicular, also has the proper
base
closer in spirit to Alberti's, again places the line is always a horizontal of the pavement
perpendicular
and the distance point at one edge of and beyond the remark
liam Ivins' pic- that Viator's construction al
ture area respectively.18 Although Filarete's theown
same diagram
results as Alberti's3 is equivalent to th
shows a case in which the edge of the picture that Alberti's
area that construction always makes the
forms the perpendicular passes through a horizontal of the pavement.
point of subdi-
vision and the base line is a horizontal of the While
pavement,19
we are not in a position to offer an op
it is not obvious from the text that this must be so and,
whether in
Alberti intended the base line to represe
fact, Von Oettingen has provided an illustrative diagram
the horizontals of the pavement, we can assert th
in which it is not.20 not do so unless the foot of the perpendicular is
According to Robert Klein's description subdivision
of Gauricus'of the base line. In Grayson's inter
construction,21 the perpendicular always goes
this through a
requires that the distance between the view
point of subdivision and therefore the base picture be an integral number of braccia. In P
line is always
interpretation,
a horizontal of the pavement. Viator's method,22 which does it requires that the centric po

18 J.R. Spencer, ed. and transl., Filarete's Treatise on Architecture, New

21 R. Klein, "Pomponius Gauricus on Perspective," Art B
Haven and London, 1965, I, 302-03. 1961, 218.

19 Ibid., ii, Bk. xxiii, fol. 177v. 22 Ivins, 14.

20 A. Parronchi, "I1 Filarete, Francesco di Giorgio e 23Leonardo
Ibid., 27. su la 'Co-
struzione Legittima,"' Rinascimento, v, 1965, pl. v (between 162 and 163).

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644 THE ART BULLETIN DECEMBER 1987 VOLUME LXIX NUMBER 4

2a The distance point lies above a point of subdivision and the perpendicular does not meet a point of subdivision

2b The distance point does not lie over a point of subdivision and the perpendicular meets a point of subdivision

2c The distance point does not lie over a point of subdivision and the perpendicular does not meet a point of subdivision

tioned directly above one of the points of subdivision.and In the viewing distance were chosen as an integral number
particular, if the centric point were placed directly above
of braccia, then Grayson's reconstruction, rather than Par-
ronchi's, would have the base line as a horizontal of the
a point of subdivision and the viewing distance were chosen
not to be an integral number of braccia, then Parronchi'spavement.
reconstruction of Alberti's method would lead to a picture The foregoing remarks are illustrative of a more general
in which the base line would represent a horizontal of theobservation: if one knows the base line, the divisions along
pavement while Grayson's would not. On the other hand, it, the centric point, and the distance between the viewer
if the centric point did not lie above a point of subdivision
and the picture, one can predict the results of applying any

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 NOTE 645

College
sufficiently explicit reconstruction of Alberti's Park,
method. In MD 20742. This is their first ve
art historywill,
particular, Grayson's and Parronchi's reconstructions and their first joint publication aft
two years
in general, lead to recognizably different results unless of
themarriage.
centric point lies above a point of subdivision and the view-
ing distance is an integral number of braccia.24 The centric
point and the viewing distance can always be recovered Frequently Cited Sources
from a completed painting that contains a checkerboard
Edgerton, S.Y., Jr., 1966, "Alberti's Perspective: A New Di
pavement. Thus if one can reconstruct theNew
position of the
Evaluation," Art Bulletin, XLVIII, 367-78.
base line as well, one may be able to use the foregoing
, 1975, The Renaissance Rediscovery of Linear Perspe
considerations to determine that certain perspective meth-
York.
ods could not have been applied by the artist.25
Grayson, C., Leon Battista Alberti: On Painting and On Sc
don, 1972.
Judy Green received her Ph.D. in mathematical logic and
Ivins, W.M., Jr.,
currently publishes on the history of mathematics. [De- On the Rationalization of Sight, New Yo
partment of Mathematics, Rutgers University, Camden,
Parronchi, A.,NJ
"La 'costruzione legittima' e uguale alla 'co
08102. ] Paul S. Green did his doctoral work
puntiin algebraic
distanza,"' Rinascimento, iv, 1964, 35-40.
topology and writes on geometry and mathematical phys-
Veltman, K.H., Linear Perspective and the Visual Dimensio
ics. [Department of Mathematics, University
and of
Art,Maryland,
Munich, 1986.

the original
24 The configurations in which Grayson's and Parronchi's perspective constructions are still visible. His r
reconstructions
indicate
lead to the same result occur when the viewing distance that to
is equal both
thecorrespond to Parronchi's interpretat
distance between some point of subdivision along the However, in each
base line case, the centric point lies above a point o
of the
and the viewing distance is an integral number of bracci
painting and the point directly below the centric point.
25 Edgerton (1975, 51-52) discusses two Renaissance completed
drawings ondrawings
which would not have distinguished between
Parronchi's interpretations.

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