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New to art history?
Start here!

Looking at art
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Why art matters
why look at art?
How art can help you analyze
The Power to Look
Describing what you see: sculpture
Elements of Art
Line
Shape and Form
Color
Space
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An introduction to art history
What is art history and where is it going?
Introduction to art historical analysis
How to do visual (formal) analysis
Art historical analysis with Goya's Third of May, 1808
A brief history of the representation of the body in Western painting
A brief history of the representation of the body in Western sculpture
The language of art history
Naturalism, realism, abstraction and idealization
Contrapposto explained
Foreshortening explained
Chiaroscuro explained
Linear perspective explained
Atmospheric perspective explained
Classical orders of architecture explained
Brief histories of art and culture
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A brief history of the cultures of Asia
A brief history of Western culture
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Current issues in art history
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Art about Migration
What does art tell us about gender?
Should Art Be Publicly Funded?
What does resistance look like?
The Case for Copying
The case for nudity
Trending artists
Behind the Banksy Stunt
Tools for understanding museums
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The case for museums
A brief history of the art museum
Museums and politics: the Louvre, Paris
Art Museums and (Art) Objects
Artists in and against the Museum
The changing social functions of art museums
Looking at Art Museums
Remake the Met
How museums shape meaning
Tools for understanding religion in art
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Beginner's guide
The five major world religions
A brief history of religion in art
Christianity
Christianity, an introduction
A new pictorial language: the image in Early Medieval art
Standard scenes from the life of Christ in art
Architecture and liturgy
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Christ is not like a snail: Signs and symbols
Putting God in his place: here, everywhere, and nowhere
Time and eternity: Yesterday, today, and always
This world and the next: Christ on earth; Christ in heaven
So near and yet so far: visions and thresholds
Unspeakable images: when words fail
Islam
Introduction to Islam
The Five Pillars of Islam
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Introduction to mosque architecture
Hinduism
Hinduism and Buddhism, an introduction
Beliefs made visible: Hindu art in South Asia
Hindu temples
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Images of Enlightenment: Aniconic vs. Iconic Depictions of the Buddha in India
Four Buddhas at the American Museum of Natural History
Bodh Gaya: center of the Buddhist world
Beliefs made visible: Buddhist art in South Asia
Buddhist Monasteries
Judaism
Judaism, an introduction
Jewish history to the middle ages
Jewish history 1750 to WW II
Jewish history in the post-war period
For the very beginner
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Ancient Greek and Roman art
Medieval and Byzantine art
Renaissance art
Baroque and Rococo
Nineteenth-century art
Introduction to Twentieth-Century Art
Introduction to Contemporary Art

Linear perspective explained

by Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris
Smarthistory images for teaching and learning:
Architectural Veduta, c. 1490Architectural Veduta, center detailArchitectural Veduta, detail at rightArchitectural Veduta (gallery view), c. 1490Ghiberti, Gates of Paradise, Jacob and Esau panelGhiberti, Gates of Paradise, Solomon panel detailGhiberti, Gates of Paradise, Joseph panel detailDonatello, Feast of Herod on FontDetail of Table and Floor, Donatello, Feast of Herod

More Smarthistory images…

Cite this page as: Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris, "Linear perspective explained," in Smarthistory, November 30, 2016, accessed November 16, 2019, https://smarthistory.org/linear-perspective-explained/.

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