linear perspective

American  

noun

1. a mathematical system for representing three-dimensional objects and space on a two-dimensional surface by means of intersecting lines that are drawn vertically and horizontally and that radiate from one point one-point perspective, two points two-point perspective, or several points on a horizon line as perceived by a viewer imagined in an arbitrarily fixed position.

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linear perspective British  

noun

1. the branch of perspective in which the apparent size and shape of objects and their position with respect to foreground and background are established by actual or suggested lines converging on the horizon

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Etymology

Origin of linear perspective

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

linear perspective

The use of linear perspective had been a “secret” known to the ancient Greeks and Romans but lost and then “rediscovered” by the Florentine architect Filippo Brunelleschi, whose drawings inspired Masaccio.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

They furnished avenging angels with modern rifles and Incan textiles, crowned Madonnas with ostrich feathers and flattened linear perspective to produce intensely colored, swirling visions of a cosmos in crisis.

From New York Times ● Aug. 25, 2022

The artist, Lorenzo Monaco, painted during the Renaissance period, but the work was created before linear perspective had replaced the “two-dimensional” style of Gothic painting.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020

He passed his knowledge to his friend Donatello, who imported linear perspective in low-relief sculpture.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 17, 2011

Of linear perspective they possessed but elementary and empirical ideas, and their endeavours to express aerial perspective and deal with the problems of light and shade were rare and partial.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 1 "Gichtel, Johann" to "Glory" by Various