vanishing point

(noun)

The point in a perspective drawing at which parallel lines receding from an observer seem to converge.

Related Terms

Examples of vanishing point in the following topics:

  • Linear Perspective

    • These parallel lines converge at the vanishing point.
    • A drawing has two-point perspective when it contains two vanishing points on the horizon line .
    • This third vanishing point will be below the ground.
    • This time the third vanishing point is positioned high in space.
    • Looking up at a tall building is a common example of the third vanishing point, where the third vanishing point is positioned high in space.

  • Linear Perspective and Three-Dimensional Space

    • A drawing has one-point perspective when it contains only one vanishing point on the horizon line.
    • These parallel lines converge at the vanishing point.
    • In looking at a house from the corner, for example, one wall would recede towards one vanishing point and the other wall would recede towards the opposite vanishing point.
    • This third vanishing point would be below the ground.
    • Because vanishing points exist only when parallel lines are present in the scene, a perspective with no vanishing points ("zero-point") occurs if the viewer is observing a non-rectilinear scene.

  • The Drawing Process

    • Each set of parallel, straight edges of any object, whether a building or a table, will follow lines that eventually converge at a vanishing point.
    • Typically this point of convergence will be along the horizon, as buildings are built level with the flat surface.
    • When multiple structures are aligned with each other, such as buildings along a street, the horizontal tops and bottoms of the structures will all typically converge at a vanishing point.

  • Painting in the High Renaissance

    • The fresco represents the subject of philosophy and is consistently pointed to as the epitome of High Renaissance painting. 
    • The work demonstrates many key points of the High Renaissance style; references to classical antiquity are paramount as Plato and Aristotle are the central figures of this work.
    • There is a clear vanishing point, demonstrating Raphael's command of technical aspects that were so important in Renaissance painting.

  • Renaissance Painting After Masaccio

    • Paolo Uccello was said to be so obsessed with trying to achieve the appearance of perspective by grasping the exact vanishing point that it disturbed his sleep.
    • Piero della Francesca studied light and linear perspective from a scientific point of view and wrote treatises about his findings.
    • His Flagellation of Christ demonstrates his mastery over linear perspective and his knowledge of how light is proportionally disseminated from its point of origin.

  • Renaissance Painting: Masaccio

    • Masaccio is best known for his frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel, in which he employed techniques of linear perspective such as the vanishing point for the first time, and had a profound influence on other artists despite the brevity of his career.
    • From this point onwards, he eschewed the Byzantine and Gothic styles altogether, adopting traces of influence from ancient Greek and Roman art instead.

  • Distortions of Space and Foreshortening

    • Perspective projection can be used to mirror how the eye sees by making use of one or more vanishing points.
    • To execute a drawing using perspective projection, projectors emanate from all points of an object and intersect at a station point.
    • These projectors intersect with an imaginary plane of projection and an image is created on the plane by the points of intersection.
    • The resulting image on the projection plane reproduces the image of the object as it is beheld from the station point.

  • Humanism

    • While medieval society viewed artists as servants and craftspeople, Renaissance artists were trained intellectuals, and their art reflected this newfound point of view.
    • Paolo Uccello, for example, who is best known for "The Battle of San Romano," was obsessed by his interest in perspective and would stay up all night in his study trying to grasp the exact vanishing point.

  • Painting and Other Forms of Art

    • The most common type of object to survive is the illuminated manuscript; wall paintings were evidently common but, like the buildings that housed them, have nearly all vanished.

  • The Church

    • The "Cluny II" rebuilding of 963 onwards has completely vanished, but we have a good idea of the design of "Cluny III" (1088–1130), which until the Renaissance remained the largest building in Europe .