N-Dimensional Space and Perspective: The Mathematics Behind the Interpretation of Ancient Perspective

The discoveries of Herculaneum and Pompeii and the broadened scope of geography in the eighteenth century, and developments in mathematics and physics that began in the nineteenth and continued into the twentieth, renewed studies of ancient works of art led to the creation of opposing factions regarding the “question of perspective”: those who maintained the existence of a single possible perspective, and those who upheld the existence of multiple perspective constructions. To shed light on the debate, this present paper examines some of the factors behind the two positions.