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From Perspective Drawing to the Eighth Dimension

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The Art of Science

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Abstract

The Arnolfini Portrait (Fig. 1.1), by Jan van Eyck (1434), is an acclaimed example of the new realism in Flemish painting in the early fifteenth century. It seems to be an accurate depiction of a three-dimensional space and of three-dimensional objects. However, van Eyck’s treatment of perspective is not mathematically correct.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Actually, Moufang stated her results using another theorem, which she erroneously believed equivalent to little Desargues. Hall (1943) pointed out her error and recognised that she had essentially proved results about little Desargues.

  2. 2.

    See Ebbinghaus et al. (1991), for more on this question.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of San Francisco, San Francisco, USA

    John Stillwell

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  1. John Stillwell
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Correspondence to John Stillwell .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Rossella Lupacchini

  2. Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Annarita Angelini

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Stillwell, J. (2014). From Perspective Drawing to the Eighth Dimension. In: Lupacchini, R., Angelini, A. (eds) The Art of Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02111-9_1

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