A boy studies the background and work of the artists of the Italian Renaissance and how their discovery of how to depict perspective in painting spread to other parts of Europe

Fully illustrated, this story brings together the histories of arts and mathematics and shows how infinity at last acquired a precise mathematical meaning.

Discusses the invention of perspective during the Renaissance and analyzes the perspective in various Renaissance paintings.

In this lavishly illustrated study, Belting deals with the double history of perspective, as a visual theory based on geometrical abstraction (in the Middle East) and as pictorial theory (in Europe). Florence and Baghdad addresses a provocative question that reaches beyond the realm of aesthetics and mathematics: What happens when Muslims and Christians look upon each other and find their way of viewing the world transformed as a result?

Michael Kubovy, an experimental psychologist, recounts the lively history of the invention of perspective in the fifteenth century, and shows how, as soon as the invention spread, it was used to achieve subtle and fascinating aesthetic effects. A clear presentation of the fundamental concepts of perspective and the reasons for its effectiveness, drawing on the latest laboratory research on how people perceive, leads into the development of a new theory to explain why Renaissance artists such as Leonardo and Mantegna used perspective in unorthodox ways which have puzzled art scholars. This theory illuminates the author's broader consideration of the evolution of art: the book proposes a resolution of the debate between those who believe that the invention/discovery of perspective is a stage in the steady progress of art and those who believe that perspective is merely a conventional and arbitrary system for the representation of space.

The Renaissance was one of the greatest and most glorious periods in all art, and Florence was its center. From Botticelli to Michelangelo, from superb painting, goldwork, and sculpture to dazzling churches and palaces, no city has achieved greater splendor or produced more brilliant art. The renowned scholar A. Richard Turner presents this popular art in a remarkably fresh and concise manner. In writing both erudite and spirited, he takes readers on a chronological and thematic tour of this extraordinary time and place. Unlike most books on Florence, this one provides a richly detailed context for the making of art, its display, and its meaning.