Satire on False Perspective

Engraving by William Hogarth

Satire on False Perspective

Artist| William Hogarth
Year| 1754
Type| engraving

Satire on False Perspective is the title of an engraving produced by the English artist William Hogarth in 1754 for his friend Joshua Kirby's pamphlet on linear perspective.

The intent of the work is clearly given by its caption:

> Whoever makes a DESIGN without the Knowledge of PERSPECTIVE will be liable to such Absurdities as are shewn in this Frontiſpiece [frontispiece].

## Summary

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The work shows a scene that provides many deliberate examples of confused and misplaced perspective effects. Although the individual components of the scene seem self-consistent, the scene itself can be classed as an example of an impossible object.

### Partial list of "errors"

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1. The man in the foreground's fishing rod's line passes behind that of the man behind him.
2. The sign is moored to two buildings, one in front of the other, with beams that show no difference in depth
3. The sign is overlapped by two distant trees.
4. The man climbing the hill is lighting his pipe with the candle of the woman leaning out of the upper story window.
5. The crow perched on the tree is massive in comparison to it.
6. The church appears to front onto the river. Both ends of the church are viewable at the same time.
7. The left horizon on the water declines precipitously.
8. The man in the boat under the bridge fires at the swan on the other side, which is impossible as he's aiming straight at the bridge abutments.
9. The right-hand end of the arch above the boat meets the water further from the viewer than does the left-hand end.
10. The two-story building, though viewed from below, shows the top of the roof, as does the church tower in the distance.
11. The barrel closest to the foreground fisherman reveals both its top and bottom simultaneously.
12. The tiles the foreground fisherman stands on have a vanishing point that converge towards the viewer.
13. A tree is growing out of the top of the bridge.
14. The vanishing point for the near side of the first building transforms midway down the wall.
15. The line of trees obscuring the sign are likely representative of how objects should decrease in scale as they move further away, but in this case reversed.
16. The sheep on the left-hand side increase in scale as they get further away.
17. The swan behind the boat is larger than the men manning the boat.
18. The base of the tree on the far left is behind the tree to the right of it, but the canopy is in front of the tree to the right of it.
19. The canopy of the tree on the far left is behind the roof of the church though the church is far behind it.
20. The left-most barrel appears to be on lower ground than the other two, when they should be on level ground.
21. The bottom swan is slightly smaller than the cow.
22. The man with the pipe is taller than the trees.
23. The tops and bottoms of the windows on the second building have different vanishing points.
24. The prows of each boat reveal an exaggerated amount of the port side.
25. The arch bridge lacks voussoirs.

Aside from the impossibilities of scale, there are in fact approximately 10 different horizons based on the various vanishing points.[citation needed]

## Historiography of perspective instruction

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Until Brook Taylor's treatise on linear perspective was published in 1715, artists were taught perspective by studying methods used in earlier works by famous artists, rather than studying the mathematics behind the methods. Hogarth created the St Martin's Lane Academy partially to remedy this gap in studies, and he invited his friend Kirby to become a perspective teacher there. Kirby obliged and later, by publishing his pamphlet, became famous enough to gain a royal appointment as a perspective teacher.

## See also

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* List of works by William Hogarth

## References

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* Dr. Brook Taylor's Method of Perspective made Easy both in Theory and Practice on the Google Books Library Project

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William Hogarth

Prints|

* List of works
* Emblematical Print on the South Sea Scheme (1721)
* The Bad Taste of the Town (1724)
* A Just View of the British Stage (1724)
* Before and After (1736)
* The Company of Undertakers (1736)
* Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn (1738)
* The Distrest Poet (1741)
* The Enraged Musician (1741)
* Characters and Caricaturas (1743)
* Industry and Idleness (1747)
* Beer Street and Gin Lane (1751)
* The Four Stages of Cruelty (1751)
* Columbus Breaking the Egg (1752)
* Satire on False Perspective (1754)
* Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism (1761)
* Five Orders of Periwigs (1761)
* John Wilkes Esq. (1763)

Paintings|

* The Assembly at Wanstead House (c. 1728–1732)
* Before and After (1730–31)
* A Harlot's Progress (1731)
* A Rake's Progress (1732–33, The Tavern Scene)
* Southwark Fair (1733)
* Scene from Shakespeare's The Tempest (c.1735)
* Four Times of the Day (1736)
* The Distrest Poet (1736)
* The Shrimp Girl (c.1740)
* Portrait of Captain Thomas Coram (1740)
* Taste in High Life (1742)
* The Graham Children (1742)
* Captain Lord George Graham in his Cabin (1745)
* David Garrick as Richard III (1745)
* Painter and his Pug (1745)
* The Gate of Calais (1748)
* Hogarth's Servants (c.1750)
* The March of the Guards to Finchley (1750)
* Humours of an Election (1755)
* Sealing the Tomb (1755)
* Hogarth Painting the Comic Muse (1757)
* The Bench (1758)
* The Lady's Last Stake (1759)
* Sigismunda Mourning over the Heart of Guiscardo (1759)

| Marriage A-la-Mode (1745)|

1. The Marriage Settlement
2. The Tête à Tête
3. The Inspection
4. The Toilette
5. The Bagnio
6. The Lady's Death

|

Books|

* The Analysis of Beauty (1753)

Theories|

* Line of beauty

Museums|

* Hogarth's House

Related|

* Trump (dog)
* Sarah Malcolm (model)
* Hogarth Club
* Mary Edwards (patron)

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