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Filippo Brunelleschi, Perspectival Drawing of the Church of Santo Spirito, ink on paper (?), ca. 1428, unknown location.
Church of Santo Spirito, Florence.
Comparison with a photograph of the same interior demonstrates how effective Brunelleschi’s method was at depicting space.
Leon Battista Alberti, Diagram Demonstrating One-Point Linear Perspective, from Della Pittura (1804 edition), first published in 1450.
Piero de la Francesca, Elevations and Horizontal Outlines of the Human Head, ca. 1472-82, ink on paper, Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana.
This drawing comes from a manuscript by Piero entitled De Prospectiva Pingendi (On Perspective for Painting) written between 1474 and 1482. Here he establishes the ideal proportions of the human head by referring to significant geometrical and cosmological numbers.
Paolo Ucello, Vase in Perspective, ink on paper, mid-15th century, Florence, Gallerie delle Uffizzi.
Leonardo da Vinci, Vitruvian Man, ca. 1490, ink on paper, Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia.
As well as demonstrating Leonardo’s interest in Vitriuvian proportions, the image was designed as an analogy for man’s place at the centre of the Universe.
Leonardo da Vinci, Detail from The Proportions of the Head, ca. 1490, metalpoint, pen and ink, on blue-grey prepared paper, Windsor, The Royal Collection.
At around the same time he produced this drawing, Leonardo illustrated De divina proportione (Divine Proportion), a book on mathematics written by Luca Pacioli .