The Theory and Practice of Perspective

by George Adolphus Storey

[...]upright square and the objects upon it as if they would fall off. No doubt the Greeks had correct notions of perspective, for the paintings on vases, and at Pompeii and Herculaneum, which were either by Greek artists or copied from Greek pictures, show some knowledge, though not complete knowledge, of this science. Indeed, it is difficult to conceive of any great artist making his perspective very wrong, for if he can draw the human figure as the Greeks did, surely he can draw an angle. The Japanese, who are great observers of nature, seem to have got at their perspective by copying what they saw, and, although they are not quite correct[...].

Genres: Art, Reference

148 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 2006

Reviews

[Jerry M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't a bad book and if one is looking to get an affordable copy of this particular book, this edition is well printed and usable. There are several weaknesses. His terminology is odd for someone who has studied art in the 20th century or later. For example he says 'produce' where one might say 'draw' as in 'draw a line'. His definitions of perspective rules don't make sense until you've studied the examples. There are a few instances in which he does a poor job explaining how he sets his vanishing points. Most things that are unclear are made a bit clearer after going through more examples.

The biggest weakness is the size of the illustrations. This books should have been produced in a larger format. Dover prints books in larger sizes and this would have helped.

[Cris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer 1: I did not read the book, but rather skimmed it because the more information I read the more it confused me so I decided to focus on the figures instead of the text.
Disclaimer 2: Some of the figures seemed too elaborate in some parts but lacking in others. Obviously the author was a highly regarded specialist, so I would never dare to dispute the accuracy of the drawings (even though for instance in figure 252 the top of the ladder seems misplaced - but I'm far from being a specialist in perspective so I may be completely wrong about that).
Disclaimer 3: I may have misunderstood a lot of things in this book so please take this whole review as a bunch of biased personal notes, nothing more.
Now that I got all that out of the way, let the review begin.
First off, the book is meant for painters, sculptors and architects, people who are already well trained in their craft, so it is by no means a beginner's course.
Second, the whole book reads like a graduate or postgraduate course, way too abstract for me at least.
To get anything out of the book I checked the ToC thoroughly, took notes and divided the book in two parts: perspective and cast shadows.
Perspective wise, the takeaway message for me was the existence of the Point of Distance, which may be situated outside the drawing itself. Not clear at what angle the Point of Distance needs to be placed: is it at a 60, 28, or 45 degree angle? I need to read more on that.
Then I made a list of categories for the figures. A word of caution here: the list is in no way related to the book's Index or the author's intent. The list is as follows:
- floortiles: figures 50,71, and 204
- cubes: figures 59, 70, 72, 106, 126 + 159&160 for figures inside a cube
- museum interiors: figures 60 and 144 (these can be used for metro stations too I think)
- saints on church walls (e.g., Byzantine frescoes - my note): figure 67
- people in a garden: figures 78 and 79
- cityscapes: figures 89, 123, 196, 236, 238 and 239
- poles/trees (to place them at the correct distance from one another): figure 137C
- stairs: figures 243, 245, 248, 249 and 251
As to cast shadows, they depend on whether objects are lit by the sun (lines will be parallel) or by a lamp (lines will be divergent). For objects lit by the sun, see figures 261 and 262. For objects lit by a lamp, see figure 263.

[Michaell Cavllaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOOK WAS OK

In order to really get anything out of this book, you must have a good understanding of geometry. This book is not for people with no background in math.