Friends with an old book
Task 3. Xenotheka
La Perspective, avec la raison des ombres et miroirs 1612
(The perspective, with the reason for shadows and mirrors)
In my search for similar books as la perspective, avec la raison des ombres et miroirs, I looked for other books about the perspective and how to use it correctly. First I found a lot of books about the elements of architecture and theory. That was not quit what I was looking for, since I wanted to find a book about the use of perspective. Then I used a different approach and used the words optic and geometry.
The first book I chose is named On the Sphere and the cylinder by Archimedes, a greek mathematician. Of course he writes a lot about the mathematic approach of solving the perspective of different forms such as spheres and cylinders. But he also writes about the three dimensional representation, that requires precise attention to the details of angels.
I could not find any books on how to draw perspective correctly, but I could find a book about the theory of geometry, proportion and construction. That book is called Modern Architectural Theory by Mallgrave. I chose this book for the second one, because I think the line between perspective and geometry is very thin and is closely related to each other. He writes: „Geometry underlies structure in architecture; geometry is what he calls the „grammar“ of form“ (Modern Architectural Theory, Mallgrave, S. 113) Perspective and geometry play a big roll in architectural theory.
The two books I chose are slightly different from my original book. But I think that makes the comparison even more interesting. My original book had a lot of drawings in it, on how to create the right perspective. The two new books go deeper in the theory of mathematic geometry and architecture.