Perspective machine explained

A perspective machine is an optical instrument designed to help artists create perspective drawings.^[1] The earliest machines were built centuries ago when the theory of perspective was being worked out, and modern versions are still^[2] in use.

Timeline

• 1510: Leonardo da Vinci's Draftsman drawing an armillary sphere shows an early perspective machine in use.^[3]
• 1525: Albrecht Dürer, in his illustration Man drawing a lute, shows an artist using a perspective machine to create a drawing. The machine consists of a wooden frame with a taut string passing through it to represent the viewer's line of sight.^[4] Dürer built his second model of such a machine in the same year.^[5]
• c.1765: Scottish engineer James Watt designs a machine based on an easel, with a pantograph mechanism allowing the artist to trace an object using a sight arm and transfer the movement of the sight to a pen drawing on paper. Watt stated that his machine was based on an invention by a Mr Hurst, who lived in India.^{[6] [7]}
• 1763: Philosopher Thomas Reid uses a machine to investigate his theory of perception.^[8]
• 1825: English inventor Francis Ronalds patents two perspective tracing machines. One generated an accurate drawing of an object or scene in nature and the other created a perspective view of an object from drawings of the plan and elevations. Ronalds manufactured the machines and sold several hundreds of them.^{[9] [10]}

External links

• DrawingMachines.org - pictorial archive of mechanical drawing aids

Notes and References

1. "Perspective Machine", The New and Complete American Encyclopedia, John Low, 1810, p.441
2. John Montague, Basic Perspective Drawing: A Visual Approach, John Wiley & Sons, 2013,
3. Leonardo da Vinci, Codex Atlanticus, 1510, reproduced in R. John Williams, The Buddha in the Machine: Art, Technology, and the Meeting of East and West, p.2,
4. Daniele Barbaro, La pratica della perspettiva di Monsignor Daniel Barbaro, Venice, 1559, p. 191, accessed 2016-02-08
5. http://www.hnf.de/en/museum/1/zeichnen-die-entdeckung-der-perspektive.html "Drawing - The discovery of perspective"
6. Perspective machine by James Watt, Science Museum, London, accessed 2020-05-14
7. Watt, James, "Description of a New Perspective Machine", Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, Volume 2, Number 4, Plate 7; Pages 259-262
8. Alexander Dick, Theory and Practice in the Eighteenth Century: Writing Between Philosophy and Literature, Routledge, 2015, . Dick says that the machine was based on Watt's invention but this contradicts the 1765 date given by Watt himself in Description of his Perspective Machine.
9. Book: Ronalds, B.F.. Sir Francis Ronalds: Father of the Electric Telegraph. Imperial College Press. 2016. 978-1-78326-917-4. London.
10. Web site: Perspective Drawing Instruments. Sir Francis Ronalds and his Family. 11 Apr 2016.