Perspectival Drawing of a Column Base with Cube

Peter Flötner

1528 · Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash · Drawings and Prints

For Renaissance artists, the representation of geometry was often a means of testing and perfecting their ability to work convincingly in perspective. A common trope was to rotate forms or stack them against or atop one another as a means of displaying the maker’s skill at visualizing an object from multiple angles within a single image. Here, a hollow rectangular cuboid balances on an ornamental plinth, presenting perspectival geometry as the modern paradigm of beauty and proportion.

Artist

Peter Flötner

Date

1528

Medium

Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Jean A. Bonna Gift, 2007