Publications

This section provides access to seminal publications on perspective, including details of important theories, methods and historical developments, etc.

If you would like to see a complete list of everything Professor Kim Veltman published in his lifetime, go to the Kim Veltman page. To locate recent publications by the Perspective Research Centre (PRC), go to the Projects heading.

To see a complete listing of everything held in the PRC Perspective Library, look under the Library heading.

Classes of Perspective

At the PRC, we are concerned with Technical Perspective (chiefly), which refers to any systematic process producing a detailed visual image, measurement, model or view, of a three-dimensional object or scene.

However, we do not ignore Knowledge Perspectives. We wish to see/know/purpose the inherent connections everything has to everything else. Accordingly, at the PRC, we use electronic media to explore new approaches to learning and education. At the same time adopting broad technological perspectives to foster eminently humane and environmentally-friendly solutions.

Henceforth we study knowledge organisation systems, hypermedia, Artificial, Situated, and Distributed Intelligence (AI, SI, DI), Virtual, Augmented, Mixed, and Extended Reality (VR, AR, MR, XR), The Internet of Things (IoT) etc, and ultimately, proposals for a World Brain. Elsewhere on this site, we explore these subjects; wishing to progress our utopian goal of connecting all human knowledge, purposes, and associated actions. QED.

In the sections below, we provide access to a host of resources on Optical Perspective. Enjoy!

Literature on Perspective

PRC maintains the standard world Bibliography Of Perspective; initially developed by Professor Luigi Vagnetti and later progressed by Professor Kim Veltman—who together spent over 90 years compiling a list of 15,000 perspective titles from throughout time (see Bibliography page).

Kim did create a far shorter bibliography on perspective, which is here:

> Literature on Perspective: A Select Bibliography (1986)

Kim Veltman

Professor Kim Veltman authored a large number of publications on the subject of perspective; including books, treatises, chapters in books, vision statements, reviews, articles, papers, etc.

Kim sought holistic viewpoints and uniting world-views—and he emphasised the myriad of links between different cultures, religions, subjects, alphabets, and languages. Ergo for Kim, there are—in reality—no isolated topics or unbreachable boundaries between things/processes or people/organisations; because everything is connected to everything else (in one sense or another). Therefore, almost everything Kim wrote was related to the foundational subject of perspective; and you can see a complete listing of everything Kim authored under the Kim Veltman tab on this site.

Listed below is a select set of Kim’s publications on perspective.

Perspective Theses by Kim Veltman

> Perfection and Infinity [1969 – York – undergraduate thesis]
> Renaissance Optics and Perspective [1975 – PhD London, scan – 442 pages]

N.B. The Perfection and Infinity thesis will be published here soon as we have access to that document.

Books on Perspective by Kim Veltman

> Military_Surveying_and_Perspective.pdf [1979, 30 pages]

> Studies on Leonardo da Vinci, Volume 1: Linear Perspective and Visual Dimensions of Science and Art [1986, 573 pages]

> Leonardo’s Method [1993, 132 pages]

> Studies on Leonardo da Vinci, Vol. 2: Optics [1996, 600 pages]

> Studies on Leonardo da Vinci, Vol. 3: Vision and Astronomy [1996, 600 pages]

> The Sources of Linear Perspective [1982-84, c. 600 pages]

> The Literature of Linear Perspective [1982-84, c. 600 pages]

> The Bibliography of Perspective [1982-2020, c. 15,000 titles]

> Geometric Games. A Brief History of the Not so Regular Solids [1996]

N.B. The Studies on Leonardo da Vinci books will be published here soon as pdf documents; whereby volume 1 will be a scan of the published book, and volumes 2,3 will initially be scans of manuscripts prior to publication.

N.B. The Sources and Literature of Linear Perspective and Bibliography of Perspective books have all been subsequently published by the PRC as The Encyclopedia of Perspective, presented over 8 volumes (see below). These volumes are available for free download here as pdf documents.

Books on Media Perspective by Kim Veltman

> SUMMA – A System for Universal Media Access [1996, 241 pages]

> Frontiers in Conceptual Navigation for Cultural Heritage.pdf [2004]

> Understanding New Media [2008, 689 pages]

N.B. The above-listed books are concerned with multi-perspectival media systems, which are, as explained elsewhere on this site, a particular category of Technical Perspective named as Media Perspective.

Treatises on Perspective by Kim Veltman

The Encyclopedia of Leonardo da Vinci

> Volume 1: Introduction: The Works of Leonardo da Vinci
> Volume 2: Visualisation and Perspective
> Volume 3: Leonardo da Vinci and the Roots of Scientific Visualisation
> Volume 4: Leonardo’s Method
> Volume 5: Linear Perspective and Visual Dimensions of Science and Art
> Volume 6: Continuity and Discovery in Optics and Astronomy
> Volume 7: Vision and Astronomy
> Volume 8: Conclusions
> Volume 9: Appendix

N.B. The above volumes represent an amalgamation of everything Kim Veltman wrote on the subject of Leonardo da Vinci, and these volumes have not yet been published (approx 3000 pages).

The Encyclopedia of Perspective

> Volume 1: The Sources of Perspective
> Volume 2: The Sources of Perspective (plates)
> Volume 3: The Literature of Perspective
> Volume 4: The Literature of Perspective (plates)
> Volume 5: The Sources of Perspective (appendix)
> Volume 6: The Bibliography of Perspective (chronological list: Antiquity-1899)
> Volume 7: The Bibliography of Perspective (chronological list: 1900-2020)
> Volume 8: The Bibliography of Perspective ((alphabetical list: Antiquity-2020)

Alphabets of Life

> Alphabets of Life – Scholar’s Edition (2014, approx. 2250 pages)

Noteworthy Articles/Papers on Perspective by Kim Veltman

Below is a list of articles and papers by Professor Kim Veltman on perspective.

Note that we have omitted certain documents for reasons of brevity. But you can find this information and complete listings on the Kim Veltman page. We have omitted 7 articles written in other languages, such as German or Dutch, but once again, full references for those items are given on the Kim Veltman page.

Perspective Book Reviews by Kim Veltman

List of reviews that Kim wrote on perspective books:

Donatella Failla, ed., Lacche Giapponesi nel Museo Chiossone: manuale di analisi e descrizione catalografica, Genoa: Sagep Editrice, 1993. (Regione Liguria. Ufficio Musei e Beni Culturali), Knowledge Organization (formerly International Classification), Frankfurt, vol. 21, no. 2, 1994, pp.
Michael Giesecke, Der Buchdruck in der frhen Neuzeit. Eine historische Fallstudie ber die Durchsetzung neuer Informations – und Kommunikationstechnologien, (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1991), McLuhan Studies, Toronto, vol. 2, (1992).
Martin Kemp, The Science of Art, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), Kunstchronik, Munich, Jg. 44, Heft 5, (May 1991), pp.285-290.
Martin Kemp , Leonardo da Vinci.
Christoph Meinel, ed., Die Alchemie in der europischen Kultur und Wissenschaftsgeschichte (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrasowitz 1986) Wolfenb¸ttler Forschungen, Band 32, Annals of Science, London, Vol. 45, no. 3, (May 1988), pp.324-325.
Michael Kubovy, The Psychology of perspective and Renaissance art, (Cambridge, 1986), Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 24, (1988), pp. 79-80.
Rob Ruurs, Saenredam, The Art of Perspective, (Amsterdam, Benjamins l987) (Oculi, Studies in the Art of the Low Countries, Vol l), Simiolus, Amsterdam, Vol. 17, (1988), pp. 275-276.
Nicholas Jardine, The Birth of History and Philosophy of Science, (Cambridge, 1984) Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Ottawa, Vol. 80, No. 2, (April 1986), pp. 118-120.
Leonardo da Vinci – Anatomical Drawings from the Royal Library Windsor Castle, Kenneth D. Keele ed., (New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984) Annals of Science, London, Vol. 42, No.4, (July 1985), pp. 189-190.
Michael Heidelberger, Sigrun Thiessen, Natur und Erfahrung, (Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1981), Annals of Science, London, Vol. 39, No. 3, (July 1985), pp.441.
Svetlana Alpers, The Art of Describing, (Chicago, 1983), Kunstchronik, Munich, Bd. 37 (7), (1984), pp. 262-267
Lise Bek, Towards Paradise on Earth: Modern Space Conception in Architecture, (Odense University Press, 1980), Annals of Science, London, Vol. 39, No. 3, (1982), pp. 320-322.
Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., Perspective, Optics and Delft Artists Around 1650, New York, 1977, pp. 81-82.
S. Edgerton Jr., The Renaissance Rediscovery of Linear Perspective, (New York, 1975), The Art Bulletin, New York, Vol. 59, No. 2, (July 1977), pp. 281-282.
D. C. Lindberg, Theories of Vision from Alkindi to Kepler, (Chicago, 1976), Annals of Science, London, Vol. 34, No. 4, (July 1977), pp. 439-441.

Slide Presentations on Perspective by Kim Veltman

List of slide presentations given by Kim on perspective (or that relate to the subject):

2000 Virtuality.pdf
2000 Virtuality and creativity.pdf
2004 Leonardo Method Lecture.pdf
2004 Literature of Perspective.pdf
2004 Sources_of_Perspective.pdf
2005 Vinci lecture.pdf
2006 Perspective and the Separation of Space and Time.pdf
2008 Leonardo and Perspective.pdf
2012 Leonardo da Vinci and Spatial Effects.pdf
2013 Historical Interfaces for Cultures.pdf
2015 New History of Media Scales and Disciplines.pdf
2016 Means of Certain Knowledge.pdf
2017 Perspective from Antiquity.pdf
2017 Perspective, Space, Time, Imagination.pdf
2017 Universe to Multiverse.pdf

N.B. The above files are pdf copies of Powerpoint slide presentations given by Kim, and to foster understanding of what he was attempting to convey in these presentations you should look for attendant publications with similar names in the lists of books and articles given above. In any case we just thought it would be interesting to see a few examples of over 400 slide presentations that PRC has in the Kim Veltman Archive. Watch this space because we shall make many other slide presentations available as time allows.

We do also have in the Kim Veltman Archive a couple of major video lecture series given by Kim, and a few audio talks as well. Watch this space because we shall publish these lectures available as time allows!

In summary, Kim Veltman authored many publications on perspective and related topics; and the titles listed above represent by no means an exhaustive list (see Kim Veltman page).

As mentioned previously, Kim published books, articles, and papers, etc., on a wide variety of topics including, computers, creativity, culture, education, new media and knowledge organisation. We shall provide subject categorised lists of Kim’s publications as time allows. Watch this space.

Perspective Publications – A Reading Guide

Below is a reading guide at the undergraduate level for people studying perspective.

Perspective from Antiquity to the 19th Century

This course sets out to reconsider the history of perspective. It examines optical adjustments methods among the Egyptians and the Greeks; debates concerning ancient perspective, mediaeval contributions and focusses on the period 1300-1600. Developments in Italy, Burgundy, Germany and France are explored.

A survey is made of major themes: instruments, shadow projection, regular and semi-regular solids, intarsia, interiors, quadratura, trompe l’oeil, anamorphosis, stage scenery, columns, ideal architecture, ruins and gardens. Links with mathematical themes such as planisphere projection, conic sections, sundials, and stonecutting are addressed. Developments from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century are considered.

Basic readings will include:

Sir Ernst Gombrich, Art and Illusion: Princeton University Press, 1960.
John White, The Birth and Rebirth of Pictorial Space, London: Faber, 1967.
Lewis B. Andrews, A Space of Time: Continuous Narrative and Linear Perspective in Quattrocento Tuscan Art, PhD, Columbia University, 1988.
Martin Kemp, The Science of Art. Optical Themes in Western Art from Brunelleschi to Seurat, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990 and 1992.
Kim H. Veltman, Sources of Perspective (Encyclopaedia of Perspective: 1, 2).

Perspective Reading List – Antiquity to the 19th Century

Heinrich Schefer, Principles of Egyptian Art, ed. E. Brunner-Traut, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974, pp. 159-198.
A. M. G. Little, Roman Perspective Painting and the Ancient Stage, New York: Moretus Press, 1971.
John North, “The Astrolabe”, Scientific American, New York, Vol. 230., Nr.1, January 1974, pp.96-101.
Miriam Schild Bunim, Space in Medieval Painting and the Forerunners of Perspective, New York: AMS Press Inc. (1940), 1970, pp. 175-192.
John White, The Birth and Rebirth of Pictorial Space, London: Faber, 1967, pp. 135-198.
B.A. R. Carter, “Perspective”, Oxford Companion to Art, ed. Harold Osborne, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970, pp. 840-861.
Kim. H. Veltman, Military Surveying and Topography: the Practical Dimension of Renaissance Linear perspective, Lisbon: Junta de Investigacoes Cientificas do Ultramar, 1979, pp. 338-368.
Galileo Galilei, Operations of the Geometric and Military Compass, trans. Stillman Drake, Washington:Smithsonian Institution, 1978.
J. McCabe, Leonardo da Vinci’s De Ludo Geometrico, PhD University of California at Los Angeles, 1972.
Lewis B. Andrews, A Space of Time: Continuous Narrative and Linear Perspective in Quattrocento Tuscan Art, PhD, Columbia University, 1988.
Marilyn Aronberg Lavin, The Place of Narrative: Mural Decoration in Italian Churches, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.
Erwin Panofsky, Perspective as a Symbolic Form, 1975, 99. 37-93.
Leon Battista Alberti, On Painting, ed. John Spencer, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1056, pp. 43-49, 68-73.
James Mitchell Collier, Linear perspective in Flemish Painting and the Art of Petrus Christus and Dirk Bouts, PhD Dissertation, University of Michigan, 1975, pp.105-184.
J. G. Links, Townscape Painting and Drawing, New York: Harper And Row, 1972.
Liliane Brion-Guerry, Jean P‚lerin, Viator. Sa place dans l’histoire de la perspective, Paris: Soci‚t‚ d’Edition les Belles Lettres, 1962, pp. 116-150.
William M. Ivins, On the Rationalization of Sight, New York: Da Capo Press, 1973.
The Perspective of Shadows – Kaufman, T, Da Costa. (1975)
H.M. Cundy, and A. P. Rollett, Mathematical Models, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1951.
Kim H. Veltman, A Brief History of the Not so Regular Solids, New York, 1991.
Andre‚ Chastel, “City Ideal, Paris, n. 36, 1957, pp. 32-39.
Cecil H. Clough,”Federigo da Montefeltro’s Private Study”, Apollo, London, vol. 81, October 1967, pp. 278-287.
Levels of Unreality, Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1963, (Figura. Uppsala Studies in the History of Art, New Series, 4).
Quadratura. Studies in Italian Ceiling Painting, Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1978, pp. 11-48. (Acta universitatis Stockholmiensis).
Jurgis Baltrusaitis, , Anamorphoses, Paris: O. Perrin, 1969.
G. Kernodle, Perspective and the Renaissance Stage, PhD, Yale University, 1937.
Eckert, W., The Renaissance Stage in Italy: A Study of the Evolution of the Perspective Scene, PhD, State University of Iowa, 1961.
F. Hamilton Hazlehurst, Gardens of Illusion, The Genius of Andr‚ Le Nostre, Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1980.
Marianne Marcussen, “L’‚evolution de la perspective en France”. Copenhagen Papers in the History of Art, Copenhagen, No. 7, 1980, pp.51-73.
Hermann von Helmholtz, Treatise on Physiological Optics, trans. James P. C. Southall, New York: Dover, 1962, vol. 3. pp. 179-185.
Maurice Pirenne, Optics, Painting and Photography, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970, pp. 145-150.

Perspective in the Twentieth Century

Perspective in the twentieth century has evoked fundamentally different interpretations. On the one hand, developments in abstract art led scholars such as Novotny (1939) to claim that perspective died with Cezanne. On the other hand, more books have been published on perspective in this century than in any previous century. In art, perspective has remained important for surrealists, super-realists and hyper-realists. In architecture and technical drawing, perspective has become increasingly important.

The rise of computers has greatly enhanced this interest in systematic treatment of space and has led to the four C’s: computer aided design (CAD); computer aided engineering (CAE); computer aided manufacture (CAM) and computer integrated manufacture (CIM). This course explores these developments, and raises questions about their consequences.

Basic readings

Maurice Pirenne, Optics, Painting and Photography, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970.
Lenny Lipton, Foundations of the Stereoscopic Cinema. A study in Depth, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1982.
Nadia Magnenat Thalmann, Daniel Thalmann, Image Synthesis. Theory and Practice, Tokyo: Springer Verlag, 1987.
Richard Mark Friedhoff, Mark Benzon, The Second Computer Revolution. Vizualization, New York: Harry Abrams, 1989.
Wright, L, Perspective In Perspective, 1983.
Kim H. Veltman, Literature of Perspective (Encyclopaedia of Perspective: 3, 4).

Perspective Reading List – Twentieth Century

Kim H. Veltman, “Classification” in Ibid., The Sources of Perspective, New York: Caratzas, 1991. pp. 112-139.
H. H. Arnason, A History of Modern Art, London: Thames and Hudson, 1969.
Curvilinear Perspective, A.Flocon, 1988.
Robert Hansen, “Hyperbolic Perspective”,
M. Luckiesh, Visual Illusions, New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1922; New York: Dover, 1965; J.O. Robinson, The Psychology of Visual Illusions, London: Hutchinson and Co., 1972. .
John M. Kennedy, Paul Gabias, Andrea Nicholls, “Tactile Pictures”: Touch Perception, ed. M. Heller and W. Schiff, Hillsdale: L. Erlbaum, 1991.
John, M. Kennedy, Haptic pictures, Toronto: University of Toronto, Scarborough College, 1980.
Suzi Gablik, Progress in Art, London: Thames and Hudson, 1976; Sidney J. Blatt, Continuity and Development in Art. The Development of Modes of Representation, Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1984.
Lionel March, Philip Steadman, The Geometry of Environment, London: R.I. B.A., 1971.
Peter Jeffrey Booker, A History of Engineering Drawing, London: Chatto and Windus, 1963.
William M. Newman, Robert F. Sproull, Principles of Interactive Computer Graphics, Tokyo: McGraw Hill Kogakusha Ltd., 1973.
Nadia Magnenat Thalmann, Daniel Thalmann, Image Synthesis. Theory and Practice, Tokyo: Springer Verlag, 1987.
Richard Mark Friedhoff, Mark Benzon, The Second Computer Revolution. Vizualization, New York: Harry Abrams, 1989.
Benoit Mandelbrot, The Fractal Geometry of Nature, New York: W. H. Freeman and Co.
Yu. N. Denisyuk, Fundamentals of Holography, Moscow: MIR Publishers, 1984.
Lenny Lipton, Foundations of the Stereoscopic Cinema. A study in Depth, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1982.
Lin, I-Jong, 1971-; Kung, S.Y., Video object extraction and representation: theory and applications, Boston, Mass.: Kluwer Academic Publisher, 2000.
Reynaud, Francoise; Tambrun, Françoise; Timby, Kim, Paris in 3D: from stereoscopy to virtual reality 1850-2000, London: Booth-Clibborn Editions; [Paris]: Paris-Musées, 2000.
Raskin, Jef, The Humane Interface, 2000.
Krueger, Myron, Artificial Reality, 2, 1991.
Heim, M, The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality, 1994.
Oettermann, S., Panorama, History of a Mass Medium, 1997.
Morrison, P, Et. Al., Powers of Ten, 1982.
Elkins, J., The Poetics of Perspective, 1995.
Beyond Vision, Darius, J., 1984.
Pomasanoff, A., The Invisible World: Sights Beyond the Limits of the Naked Eye, 1981.
Hayes, C., Wide Screen Movies, 1988.
Hayes, C., 3-D Movies, 1991.
Belton, J., Widescreen Movies, 1993.

Perspective Reading List – Twenty First Century

Below is a developing reading list for the twenty-first century.

Lanier, Jaron, Dawn of the New Everything, 2018.
Chen, J,Y, et al, Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality, 2019.
Hecht, H. Et al, Looking into Pictures, 2003.
Walt Disney Imagineering, 2010.
Bizony, P., et al, Invisible Worlds, Exploring the Unseen, 2004.
Metzger, P., The Art of Perspective, 2000.
Layton, J. et al.,Dawn of Technicolor, 2015

N.B. List is to be continued…

Classic Articles and Papers on Perspective

The PRC Library on Perspective holds many thousands of papers, articles, and books on the subject of perspective; and we are developing a full catalogue of holdings – as listed on the Library and Kim Veltman pages. We are endeavouring to provide access to the more important titles, and we shall list those below as time allows.

Listed below are classic articles on perspective, and we shall endeavour to add items to this list as time allows. In particular we are searching for modern articles, books and papers on perspective; and we ask that readers kindly send in suggestions. Thank you in advance.

The Scientific Basis of Leonardo da Vinci’s Theory of Perspective, Pirene, M.H., (1952)
The Perspective of Piero della Francesca’s ‘Flagellation’ , Wittkower, R, and Carter. B.A.R., (1953)
The Psychophysics of Pictorial Perception, Hochberg, J., (1962)
The Information Available in Pictures, Gibson, J.J., (1971)
Perspective and Viewpoint, K.R. Adams, (1972)
The Visual Image, Gombrich, E.H., (1972)
Brunelleschi’s First Perspective Picture, S.Y.Edgerton, (1973)
The Curving World: Hyperbolic Linear Perspective, Hansen, R., (1973)
Hansen’s Curvilinear Perspective, Arnheim, R., (1974)
The Perspective of Shadows, Kaufman, T, Da Costa., (1975)
On the Visual Perception Hypotheses of Hobbes, Gibson and Ronchi, Maurin, P.M., Greenstien, R., (1975)
The Perception of Pictorial Space in Pictures, Ward, J.L., (1976)
Tetraconic Perspective for a Complete Sphere of Vision, Adams, K.R., (1976)
Problems of Pictorial Perception, Adams, W.A., (1977)
Perception of Perspective Pictorial Space from Different Viewing Points, Arnheim, R., (1977)
The Astrolabe, J.D. North, (1977)
On Perceiving Paintings and Sculpture, Martin, F.D., (1978)
Perspective as a Convention, On the Views of Nelson a Goodman and Earnst Gombrich, Carrier D., (1980)
Old Perspective and New Vision, Coppel, G., (1982)
Flat Sphere Perspective, Casas, F.R., (1983)
On the Horizon: Picture Perception and Gibson’s Concept of Information, Rogers, S., Costall, A., (1983)
On my Concept of Perceptual Perspective that Accounts fro Parallel and Inverted Perspective in Pictorial Art, Rauschenbach, B.V., (1983)
Determining the Preferred Viewpoint in Linear Perspective, Greene, R., (1983)
Polar Perspective, Casas, F.R., (1984)
Renaissance Perspectives, James Elkins, (1992)
The Perspective Treatise in Ruins, C.Wood., (2003)

NEWS BULLETIN  -- < Perspective Publications > --

This perspective publications page is only at an early stage of development. 

This page provides a select list of classic reading materials plus directed reading for people interested in learning about technical perspective and related topics.

At present, we are in the process of shelving our vast library on perspective and related topics. Until that task is complete, we have suspended the development of the publications page. Watch this space!

The perspective reading list does not replace the far more extensive Bibliography Of Perspective (15,000 titles), or the Perspective Library Catalogue or Kim Veltman Archive list(s). To see all of the titles held at the PRC, readers should consult the contents of those lists.

I appreciate your patience.

Alan Radley -- 8.11.22 --


Dr Alan Radley FRSA | Scientific Director
e: alansradley@gmail.com

Perspective Research Centre
www.perspectiveresearchcentre.com