Astronomical Images : Duerer's method to assist painters in capturing perspective (1)

Albrecht Duerer

Astronomical Images

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Albrecht Duerer (1471-1528), now widely famed for his painting, engraving and printmaking, was interested and proficient in the mathematical arts. In his <i>Institutiones geometricae</i> he married the mathematical art of geometry to the art of perspective and drawing, bringing Euclidean principles to bear on the theory and practices of visual representation. This figure shows an instrument that Duerer proposed to allow inexperienced artists to paint from life. The text accompanying this figure features a lengthy and detailed account of the construction of the instrument, down to the level of detailing screw threads, notches and bolts. The instrument consisted of a plane of glass fixed in a wooden frame which could be raised up perpendicular to a base table. Rods held this framed glass in place. A second fitting at the painter's end of the base table bore a piece of wood with a hole through which the painter was to look at the subject. Duerer also suggested that in the painting of portraits the subject's head ought to be somehow supported so as to reduce movement. Having ensured that the pane of glass, the painter's eye and the subject were held in place, the painter could then trace the image of his subject directly onto the glass. This traced image could then be transferred (by means that Duerer does not specify here) onto the intended surface. The design of this instrument as described in the text and depicted in the figure was such that it could be folded away for easy carriage from place to place.</p>