Perspective manuals were instructional texts that emerged primarily during the Renaissance and continued to develop through the Baroque period, providing artists, architects, and designers with methods for creating realistic spatial representation. These manuals combined theoretical principles, often rooted in geometry, with practical guidance on constructing perspective in artworks, architectural plans, and decorative schemes.
The diffusion of perspective manuals paralleled broader cultural and technological trends, including the invention of the printing press and the increasing exchange of ideas across Europe. Early Italian texts, such as Alberti’s De Pictura (1435), laid the groundwork for perspective as a systematized discipline. Northern European adaptations, like Dürer’s Underweysung der Messung (1525), tailored these methods to local artistic traditions and audiences.
By the Baroque era, perspective manuals became sophisticated tools for teaching advanced techniques, including illusionistic ceiling paintings and theatrical set designs. Widely circulated among workshops, academies, and courts, these manuals played a critical role in standardizing and disseminating perspective, shaping the visual culture of early modern Europe.
For a complete list of pre-1900 perspective manuals (with subsequent republishings) consult the Russell Light's excellent PERSPECTIVE RESOURCES, from which the list below was derived.
Click on the links below to access PDF files of the treastises.
- ALBERTI, Leon (1435) - De Pictura.
*Italian translation - Della Pittura, 1436. First published editions: Latin - Basel, 1540; Italian - Venice, 1547; English (trans. from Italian) - Leoni, 1726. - FILARETI (c.1461–1464.) - Libro architettonico, (later referred to as the Trattato di architettur).
- P. DELLA FRANCESCSA (c.1470) - De Prospectiva Pingendi, critical edition ed. G Nicco-Fasola, Florence, 1942.
- DA VINCI (c. 1500–1518) - Notebooks.
- VIATOR (Pèlerin, Jean) (23 June, 1505) - De Artificiali P(er)spectiva, Toul, Petrus Jacobi.
- DÜRER Albrecht (1471–1528) - Unterweisung in der Messung mit Zirkel und Richtscheit, (Measurement by Compass and Ruler), published?
- SERLIO, Sebastiano. (1537–1547) - Tutte l'Opera d'Architectura et Prospettiva, Venice.
- ARETINO, Pietro (1557) - Dialogo della Pittura di M. Lodovico Dolce initolato l'Aretino, Venice.
- COUSIN, Jean (1560) - Livre de Perspective, Paris, Jean le Royer.
- BARTOLI, Cosimo (1564) - Del Modo di Misurare le Distantie, le Superficie, i Corpi, le Piante, le Provincie, le Prospettiue, & Tutte le Altre Cose Terrene, Venice, Francesco Franceschi.
- BARBARO, Daniele (1568) - La Practica della Perspettiva di Monsignor Daniele Barbaro Eletto Patriarca d'Aquileia, Opera Molto Utile a Pittori, a Scultori, & ad Architetti, Venice, Camillo and Rutilio Borgominieri.
- JAMITZER, Wenzel (1568) - Perspectiva Corporum Regularium, Nurnberg, Gotlicher Hulff.
- BASSI, Martini (1572) - Dispareri in Materia d'Architettura, et Perspettiva. Con Pareri di Eccellenti, et Famosi Architetti, chi li Risoluono, Brescia, Francesco and Pietro Maria Marchetti.
- DU CERCEAU THE ELDER, Jacques Androuet (1576) - Leçons de Perspective Positive, Paris, Mamert Patisson.
- VIGNOLA, Jacopo Barozzi da (1583) - La Due Regole della Prospettiva di M. Iacomo Barozzi da Vignola con i Comentarij del R.P.M. Egnatio Danti, Rome.
- VILLAFANE, Ioan de Arphe y (1585) - De Varia Commensuracion para la Escultura, y Arquietectura, Seville, Andrea Pescioni y Ivan de Leon.
- SIRIGATTI, Lorenzo (28 October, 1596) - La Practica di Prospettiva, Venice, Girolamo Franceschi. (Eng. ed., Issac Ware, 1756)
- DEL MONTE, Guido Ubaldo (1600) - Perspectivae Libri Sex, Pesaro, Hieronymus Concordia.
- DE VRIES, Hans Vredeman (1604–1605) - Perspectiva, id est Celeberrima ars Inspicientis aut Transpicientis Oculorum Aciei, in Pariete, Tabula aut Tela Depicta, The Hague, Leyden.
- HONDIUS, Hendrik (1622) - Onderwysinge in de Perspective Conste, The Hague, Hondius.
* (1622) - Institutio Artis Perspectivae.
* (1625) - Instruction en la Science de Perspective.
* (1640) - Gondige Onderrichtinge in de Optica, oft Perspective Konst, Amsterdam. - ACCOLTI, Pietro (1625) - Lo Inganno de Gl'ochi, Prospettiva Practica, Florence, Pietro Cecconcelli.
- VAULEZARD, I.L. de (1630) - Perspective Cilindrique et Conique; ou Traicté des Apparences Veuës par le Moyen des Miroirs Cilindrique et Conique, Paris, J. Jacquin.
- DESARGUES, Girard (1636) - Example d'une des Manières Universelles, Paris, the author.
- NICERON, Jean François (1638) - La Perspective Curieuse, ou Magie Artificielle des Effets Merveilleux de l'Optique…la Catoprique…la Dioptique, Paris, Pierre Bilain.
- DUBREUIL, Jean (1642) - La Perspective Practique…par un Parisien, Religieux de la Compagnie de Iesus, Paris, Melchior and François Langlois.
- ALÉAUME and MIGON (1643) - La Perspective Spéculative et Pratique du Sieur Aléaume, ed. by Etienne Migon, Paris.
- BOSSE, Abraham (1648) - Manière Universelle de Mr Desargues pour Pratiquer la Perspective par Petit-Pied, comme le Géometral, Paris, the author.
- LECLERC, Sébastien (1669) - Practique de la Géométrie sur le Papier et sur le Terrain, Paris, Thomas Jolly.
- TROILI, Giulio (1672) - Paradossi per Pratticare la Prospettiva, senza Saperla, Fiori, per Facilitare l'Intelligenza, Frutti, per non Operare alla Cieca, Bologna, heirs of Peri.
- POZZO, Andrea (1693–1700) - Perspectiva Pictorum et Architectorum Andreae Pozzo Putei e Societate Jesu', Rome, Joannis Komarek Bohemi.
- LAMY, Bernard (26 February, 1701) - Traité de Perspective, ou sont Contenus les Fondamens de al Peinture, Paris, Anisson.
- BIBIENA, Ferdinando Galli (1711) - L'architettura Civile Preparate su la Geometria, e Ridotta alle Prospettive, Parma, P. Monti.
- TAYLOR, Brook (1715) - Linear Perspective: or, a New Method of Representing justly All Manner of Objects as They Appear to the Eye in all Situations, London, R. Knaplock.
Recommended Vermeer Reading
The Cambridge Companionto Vermeer (Cambridge
Companions to the History of Art)
ed. Wayne Franits 2001
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