50-108

• Παπαϊωάννου, Άγγελος Α.

This paper deals with the problem of the central vanishing point in Greco-roman painting. It discusses both the ancient sources and the extant monuments and reaches the following conclusions:1. The invention of linear perspective in fifth-century B.C. Athens is due to artists from Ionia or from areas under Ionian influence, Polygnotos of Thasos and Agatharchos of Samos. The theoretical groundwork was also laid by the Ionian scientists, Anaxagoras of Klazomenai and Demokritos of Abdera, both representatives of the Ionian enlightenment. Linear perspective was invented to serve the needs of stage scenery.2. There is no evidence from extant monuments of the use of a central vanishing point in fifth-century or later Greco-Roman painting. Although not attested in any ancient sources before Hipparchos, the theoretical knowledge of the central vanishing point must be due to Anaxagoras and Demokritos (also credited by Vitruvius VII. praef. 11), who investigated vision mecha nismus and the geometry of space. 3. The interpretation of the world as a sphere and the concept of spatial geometry were developed by the Pre-Socratic philosophers (Anaximander, Pythagoras, Xenophanes and Parmenides) and the atomic philosophers Demokritos and Leukippos. We may therefore conclude that these concepts are due to the Ionians.4. We support Panofsky's and Little's theories on parallel and symmetrical linear perspective and have tried to document them through the ancient sources.5. There is a linear development of thought. The ideas were first formulated by Anaxagoras, developed further by Demokritos, adoptied by Epikouros and transmitted to Vitruvius through the Epikourean Lucretius.6. It is probable in the two passages dealing with stage scenery, esp. 1.2.2, that Vitruvius is in fact describing Pompeian frescoes of the Second Style. These are characterised by a single vanishing point inscribed in one or several concentric semicircles or full circles. The Secons Style is dominated by symmetry and axiality, both being prominent qualities of Roman art. This, however, does not mean that Vitruvius' account of linear perspective is an anachronism. It can be argued that his account is part of a general attempt to harmonise Greek tradition with Roman actuality, current in his own time. A similar idea is expressed in Horace, Ars poetica 52ff. "et nova fictaque nuper habebunt verba fidem si/ Graeco fonte cadent, parce detorta".7. It is of course not impossible that σχήµα κύκλωι in Plato's Respublica may signify a circular composition by reference not to the centre of a real circle but to the focal point of the composition. It has also been suggested that Plato in fact means the stage in general, complete with its scenery. He at any rate emphasises the illusion created by the scenery, as is clear by the use of δοκείν. This suggestion is reinforced by Eukleid's Optics.8. The lack of a vanishing point in Greco-Roman painting does not entail ig norance of the rules of linear perspective. It probably indicates that the Greeks resisted the rigid application of mathematical rules, which did not conform with the aims of their art. Their goal was to respresent the body, not the vision (Plato, Soph. 233 c 3). However, the vanishing point is manifest in the architectural complexes of the Periclean era: the Acropolis, propylaia by Mnesikles.

• Philosophy, Ethics and Religion
• Arts

• Art and philosophy
• Φιλοσοφία, Αρχαία

Μετάφραση περίληψης: Όλγα Παλαγγιά, Περιέχει εικόνες και σημειώσεις, Μνήμη καθηγητού Νικολάου Α. Λιβαδάρα