EURO ST 10 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Leon Battista Alberti, Florence Baptistery, Filippo Brunelleschi
Document Summary
Brunelleschi put his new-found perspective to the test in a series of painted experiments. Brunelleschi would paint the baptistery on a canvas in perspective. He would then cut out a hole in the canvas where the vanishing point is. A viewer would then look through the hole on the backside of the canvas. As he would look through the hole, he would find a mirror placed in front of the canvas so that he would see in the mirror the perspectival construction of the baptistery. The individual is given a mastery over space itself. But note, the individual"s position and gaze is locked into place. Brunelleschi was searching for a way to realistically depict buildings as he saw them in the city. He stood in a fixed spot outside of the florence baptistery and sketched many drafts of the building.
