2009/09/01 by Dominique Raynaud · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · Arts and Humanities · #Historical Astronomy and Related Studies #Historical Philosophy and Science #Architecture and Art History Studies
paper · doi:10.1017/s0957423909990038
openalex publication_date 2009/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/25
Abstract The concept of aerial perspective has been used for the first time by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519). This article studies its dependence on Ptolemy's Optica and overall on the optical tradition inaugurated by Ibn al-Haytham's Kitāb al-Manāẓir (d. after 1040). This treatise, that was accessible through several Latin and Italian manuscripts, and was the source of many Medieval commentaries, offers a general theory of visual perception emancipated from the case of the moon illusion, in which physical and psychological factors are closely combined. Atmospheric extinction (not refraction, which is sometimes confused with) affects the conjectured size of remote objects. This phenomenon is also the core source for a pictorial rendering of depth, that is based onto a principle different from the diminution of size.