Reverse perspective
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Reverse perspective, also called inverse perspective or Byzantine perspective, is a technique of perspective drawing where the further the objects are, the larger they are drawn. The lines diverge against the horizon, rather than converge as in linear perspective. Technically, the vanishing points are placed outside the painting with the illusion that they are "in front of" the painting.
The name Byzantine perspective comes from the use of this perspective in earlier Byzantine and Russian Orthodox icons. It is difficult to say now what the intentions of the ancient iconographers were, but a common interpretation is that the point of perspective is on the viewer, hence The Almighty looks upon him, rather than the viewer looks upon The Almighty. It displays the spiritual rather than the physical reality.
An alternative interpretation would be that as God is omnipresent, his view converges from everywhere, rather than scanning out from a point. According to this interpretation, the reverse perspective would be imitative of the conception and/or sensorium of God.
A practical effect of reverse perspective is that since our vision has its greatest acuity at the focus, a visual representation which enlarges things which are not at the center will tend to even out the lack of discernment of detail, thus aiding in the envisionment of the image as a gestalt.
