Analysis of two works with split vanishing points (Paolo Uccello and Ercole de Roberti) and the implication of this resource of perspective on 20th century artists

Abstract

The study centres on two works by Paolo Uccello (1397-1475) and Ercole de Roberti (1451-1496), two predella respectively, produced in the rapture of the origins of perspective. The study reconstructs the structure of the perspective in order to reveal the strategies adopted by the two artists, in the context of the rules governing the new science and that emphasise the polarity existing, even then, between a «natural» concept of perspective and the merely «mathematical » concept, which rigidly applied comes into conflict with the artist’s creativity and with certain visual conditions. Finally, we study the use of the same resource in several contemporary works demonstrating the confluence of 20th century freedom of expression with the tradition of perspective drawing, under the influence of the system most intuitive and visual component.