Glasser's and Humphrey's explanation of the origin of reversed perspective in Byzantine and other arts is supported by the results of an experiment in which observers judged the back line of a ‘footstool’ drawing to be equal in length to the front line when it was actually shorter than the latter. Thus a correctly drawn parallelogram appears to be in reversed perspective where it is the top of an object whose side is shown and which therefore provides cues for its depth.
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References
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GregoryR L, 1964“Distortion of visual space as inappropriate constancy scaling”Nature (London)199678–680.
2.
HumphreyN K, 1971“Contrast illusions in perspective”Nature (London)23291–93.
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GlasserG, 1967“Observations on the origin of reversed perspective in Byzantine art”paper presented at the Byzantine Congress, Oxford.
