Girard Desargues and Geometry Applied to the Arts

This study intends to examine the theoretical geometric contributions given by Girard Desargues to the applied arts, through the exploration of the related constructions that reveal their manière universelle. The applied arts, which played a fundamental role in 17th century society, involving craftsmen and artists, between the Renaissance and Baroque periods aroused the interest of mathematicians, who considered them the laboratories in real scale, where experimenting theories and validate results. Desargues’ contribution is framed in this context, as the work of a geometer interested in practical questions to be resolved through the power and ability of generalizing theory. The research of universal methods capable of resolving constructions in the field of applied arts in a strictly operational way is the fil rouge that links perspective, stereotomy and gnomonics. These methods are the final result of the synergistic combination of the theory of form and methods of representation, which bring together the studies of conic sections and their properties with the idea of representation intended in its broadest sense, where “perspective” and “true form” are two sides of the same coin. The ultimate purpose of Desargues’ method is to provide accessible constructions for the most ordinary workers, unfamiliar with geometry, by means of maximum simplification processes, reproducible with the tools they know and understand.