Not content with creating the stupendous dome of Florence cathedral, the architectural miracle of its time (or, indeed, of any time), Filippo Brunelleschi also invented (or possibly, reinvented) Linear Perspective, which released artists from the constraints of mediaeval graphical convention, enabling innovation to flourish.

You will probably know that we have named our Watermill bedrooms after famous Italian artists. Mainly they are of the Renaissance, but a few are from later times. We’ve also been making blogs about the artists themselves and you can see the one on the Brunelleschi bedroom by clicking here. Not wishing to overload our guests are too much artistic 0r historical information (they are on holiday, after all), we concentrated on the remarkable dome.

The magnificent dome of Florence cathedral. Picture: Public domain via wikicommons.

But perspective is arguably just as important. Brunelleschi developed the rules of of graphical perspective in the early 15^th century, introducingtechniques for the accurate depiction of depth, creating the illusion of three dimensions on a two-dimensional surface.

Or perhaps he rediscovered them during his visit to Rome with Donatello in 1402:he ancient Romans (and the ancient Greeks) certainly understood how to create an image with convincing depth. When Filiposhowed off his famous experiment on the steps of the cathedral in Florence (picture below), he implied that he had made the discoveries on his own. Whatever the truth, these secrets were lost in the Dark Ages, and by Mediaeval times artists were more interested in relaying the messages of the Church than in realistic representations of the landscape or the human form.

To create the illusion of depth on a flat surface inerspective drawing, parallel lines converge to ‘vanishing point’ a on a horizontal ‘line of sight’ in the composition. Objects become progressively smaller the nearer they are to the vanishing point. They are also subjected to ‘foreshortening’, so that they appear to recede into the distance.

Brunelleschi demonstrated the accuracy of his new system by making a painting of the baptistery from the steps outside the West door of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. All that ancient building’s lines, shapes and angles  were recorded according to the new rules of perspective. The sky, however, was not painted, but a thin plate of burnished silver was fitted around the outline of the building. 

To carry out the experiment, you first had to hold the picture with its reverse side towards you and look at the baptistery through a small ‘sighting hole’ bored through the centre of the wooden panel. You then took a mirror, with its own sighting hole, and carefully adjusted it behind the picture, so that the painting was reflected back in the mirror. So accurate was Brunelleschi’s drawing so you could see a true convergence of the real and the artificial. Here’s the diagram again.

In the following decades, there were further developments in both perspective techniques and in foreshortening, which added even more to the realism of painting. Not least among the practitioners were Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, whose Sistine Chapel ceiling makes full use of these techniques.

We can’t offer you Brunelleschi himself to demonstrate his perceptive techniques, of course, but we can promise you practical advice on perspective and dozens  of other artistic questions from our skilled and sympathetic tutors. (Even on how to draw these cloisters on our Thursday visits to the nearby Convento dei Carmine, where the receding curves are rather daunting. (You’ll also find plenty of easier subjects on your week with us!)

Dangerous curves. The cloisters of the Convento di Carmine

Alluring curves- Rebecca de Mendonça’s wonderful pastel of a gateway in a nearby walled village of Verrucola.

Come and join us for expert tuition, warm hospitality, stunning locations and convivial, creative company!  And don’t forget if you book any 2026 course before 1 September 2025, you can enjoy your stay at 2025 prices!