Perspettiva ridotta a perfezione: Glimpses of Daniele Barbaro’s Perspective Theory

Abstract

This contribution is intended to identify some textual elements, apparently secondary in Daniele Barbaro’s treatise on perspective, which either foreshadow unprecedented developments in the discipline of representation or have constituted complex critical nodes in the field of perspective. The first of these is introduced in part V: anamorphosis (though never so called by the author, since the term was not yet in use), suggesting a quick method to deform any flat image by means of shadows. Finally, the author mentions two other ‘eccentric’ elements of interest for the future developments of perspective that originated in Daniele Barbaro’s text: an optical-projective device first introduced by Giovanni Battista Vimercato, later developed by Jean François Niceron in his Thaumaturgus opticus (1646), and the camera obscura.