Schematic in four panels. Overlap: a circle in front of a square. Size: three identical figures, each smaller and higher up. Linear perspective: lines converging on a point on the horizon. Near-far jump: a huge dark trunk and branch in front of tiny distant figures, with nothing in between.

Concept · Arranging the Picture

Depth by Design

Depth cues make a flat surface read as space. The painter decides which to use and how strongly.

Overlap puts one thing in front of another, and size shrinks things as they recede. Linear perspective runs receding lines to a vanishing point at the viewer's eye level. A near-far jump leaves out the middle ground.

  • Brunelleschi worked out linear perspective around 1420, and Alberti's book on painting explained it.
  • Color and distance are covered in Color Theory.

See

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