DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18826#0171
LECT. IV.j ON PERSPECTIVE. 1 1§
Nature ; infomuch, that geometry has been confi-
dered as the fovereign, rather than as the affiftant
of Perfpeclive; and becaufe, hereby we procure
fuch and fuch reprefentations of objects, it has been
afferted (fomewhat prematurely, as I fuppofe) that
thefe reprefentations are conclulively accurate, and
deraonftrative.
I flatter myfelf, not any of my auditors whom I
have had the honour to addrefs in the preceding
Lectures, will entertain a thought, that I am infen-
fible to the advantages arifing from mathematical
affiftance, or that I undervalue our obligations to
that fcience, which alone has afforded, or can af-
ford, certainty and exactnefs to the ftudy of per-
fpeclive ; and yet I cannot entirely acquiefce in at-
tributing abfolute puiffance to geometrical induc-
tions : nor do I think fuch afiertions would have
been made by writers on perfpeclive, if they had
extended their views, and confidered Nature as
the fupreme authority throughout the imitative
arts.
But, fince I avow this fentiment, I requeft your
indulgence, while I notice fome differences between
the effects of geometry and thofe of perfpective ; or,
rather, I fhall offer remarks on a few particulars,
in which the rules of both fciences are inadequate
to the requifitions of art. ;
To define perfpeclive, perhaps I fhould call it
a regulated imitation of Nature; in which imi-
tation it receives much affiftance from geometry:
but, in fome inftances, geometry is quickly fuper*
q 2 feded,
Nature ; infomuch, that geometry has been confi-
dered as the fovereign, rather than as the affiftant
of Perfpeclive; and becaufe, hereby we procure
fuch and fuch reprefentations of objects, it has been
afferted (fomewhat prematurely, as I fuppofe) that
thefe reprefentations are conclulively accurate, and
deraonftrative.
I flatter myfelf, not any of my auditors whom I
have had the honour to addrefs in the preceding
Lectures, will entertain a thought, that I am infen-
fible to the advantages arifing from mathematical
affiftance, or that I undervalue our obligations to
that fcience, which alone has afforded, or can af-
ford, certainty and exactnefs to the ftudy of per-
fpeclive ; and yet I cannot entirely acquiefce in at-
tributing abfolute puiffance to geometrical induc-
tions : nor do I think fuch afiertions would have
been made by writers on perfpeclive, if they had
extended their views, and confidered Nature as
the fupreme authority throughout the imitative
arts.
But, fince I avow this fentiment, I requeft your
indulgence, while I notice fome differences between
the effects of geometry and thofe of perfpective ; or,
rather, I fhall offer remarks on a few particulars,
in which the rules of both fciences are inadequate
to the requifitions of art. ;
To define perfpeclive, perhaps I fhould call it
a regulated imitation of Nature; in which imi-
tation it receives much affiftance from geometry:
but, in fome inftances, geometry is quickly fuper*
q 2 feded,