Physics:Perspective machine
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A perspective machine is an optical instrument designed to help artists create perspective drawings.[1] The earliest machines were built centuries ago when the theory of perspective was being worked out, and modern versions are still[2] in use.
Timeline
- 1510: Leonardo da Vinci's Draftsman drawing an armillary sphere shows an early perspective machine in use.[3]
- 1525: Albrecht Dürer, in his illustration Man drawing a lute, shows an artist using a perspective machine to create a drawing. The machine consists of a wooden frame with a taut string passing through it to represent the viewer's line of sight.[4] Dürer built his second model of such a machine in the same year.[5]
- c.1765: Scottish engineer James Watt designs a machine based on an easel, with a pantograph mechanism allowing the artist to trace an object using a sight arm and transfer the movement of the sight to a pen drawing on paper. Watt stated that his machine was based on an invention by a Mr Hurst, who lived in India.[6][7]
- 1763: Philosopher Thomas Reid uses a machine to investigate his theory of perception.[8]
- 1825: English inventor Francis Ronalds patents two perspective tracing machines. One generated an accurate drawing of an object or scene in nature and the other created a perspective view of an object from drawings of the plan and elevations. Ronalds manufactured the machines and sold several hundreds of them.[9][10]
References
- ↑ "Perspective Machine", The New and Complete American Encyclopedia, John Low, 1810, p.441
- ↑ John Montague, Basic Perspective Drawing: A Visual Approach, John Wiley & Sons, 2013, ISBN:1118414128
- ↑ Leonardo da Vinci, Codex Atlanticus, 1510, reproduced in R. John Williams, The Buddha in the Machine: Art, Technology, and the Meeting of East and West, p.2, ISBN:0300194471
- ↑ Daniele Barbaro, La pratica della perspettiva di Monsignor Daniel Barbaro, Venice, 1559, p. 191, accessed 2016-02-08
- ↑ "Drawing - The discovery of perspective", Heinz Nixdorf Museums Forum, accessed 2016-02-08
- ↑ Perspective machine by James Watt, Science Museum, London, accessed 2020-05-14
- ↑ Watt, James, "Description of a New Perspective Machine", Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, Volume 2, Number 4, Plate 7; Pages 259-262
- ↑ Alexander Dick, Theory and Practice in the Eighteenth Century: Writing Between Philosophy and Literature, Routledge, 2015, ISBN:1317314530. Dick says that the machine was based on Watt's invention but this contradicts the 1765 date given by Watt himself in Description of his Perspective Machine.
- ↑ Ronalds, B.F. (2016). Sir Francis Ronalds: Father of the Electric Telegraph. London: Imperial College Press. ISBN 978-1-78326-917-4.
- ↑ "Perspective Drawing Instruments". http://www.sirfrancisronalds.co.uk/tracing.html.
External links
- DrawingMachines.org - pictorial archive of mechanical drawing aids
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