Introducing Linear Perspective in Greece, 1830–1860

Local Conditions of a Global Visual Regime

Abstract

This article operates on two levels, it begins with a historical mapping of the global disseminations of perspective, then it examines a local case: the introduction and adoption of linear perspective in Greece between 1830 and 1860. The analysis of textual and visual sources reveals a complex historical process which includes: artistic transfers between Greece and Western Europe, translations of perspective treatises, the formation of the modern Greek term for “perspective”, the founding of educational institutions, and the advent of photography in Greece. The introduction of linear perspective in Greece constituted a crucial historical event, that shifted local pictorial traditions towards a Westernized naturalism. The examination of these local conditions, aims at a closer description of the global traits of perspective.