Linear Perspective and the Underpainting

When I made the initial sketches for this paintings, I eyeballed the interior. It worked out well for a small scale painting, but when I transposed it onto the larger canvas, it was apparent that I'd need to be more exact, in the interior is to look like believable space. This painting has taken far longer to lay out than this first. Some people really enjoy thinking about angles, numbers and ratios, but I'm not one of them. Paolo Uccello would spurn his wife to work on perspective drawings. So I got out my ruler, T-square, and protractor to make the space work. In the photograph above you can see some of this work. Since the pencil lines don't show up very well I've drawn over the more important elements with oil.

I've based the space on the size of the figures. Though seated here, St. Kateri would stand 6.5 heads tall, befitting her diminutive stature. The girl stands 5 heads, and the boy 4. The vanishing point occurs at the top of St. Kateri's forehead; the beams of the roof radiate outward from here. The angle of the floor and benches however, radiate from a second vanishing point near St. Kateri's neck. This second vanishing point in necessary to prevent the "wide angle" lens effect that results from the vanishing point being located high in the composition, and the location of the figures in the foreground.

The posts of the structure are very useful for maintaining a consistent recession of the roof slats. Essentially I have two calibration points with which I can measure from for the roof slats. Not all of these measurements and details will be evident in the finished painting. It helps me to paint with confidence, knowing the structure that undergirds my marks is geometrically stable. The watercolor below by Sargent is very expressive, yet the painting sits atop a very precise and calculated drawing. The detailed perspective drawing is most visible in the steps and columns of the buildings.

For anyone interested in the contemporary and classical uses of linear perspective drawing, a great place to start reading is Deborah Rockman's Drawing Essentials.