Aerial perspective

Aerial perspective, or atmospheric perspective, is the effect the atmosphere has on the appearance of an object as viewed from a distance. As the distance between an object and a viewer increases, the contrast between the object and its background decreases, and the contrast of any markings or details within the object also decreases. The colours of the object also become less saturated and shift toward the background colour, which is usually bluish, but may be some other colour under certain conditions (for instance, reddish around sunrise or sunset).

History

Atmospheric perspective was used in Pompeian Second Style frescos, one of the Pompeian Styles, dating as early as 30 BCE. Notable examples include the Garden Room Fresco from the Villa of Livia in Prima Porta, Italy, and the first-century Pompeian fresco Paris on Mount Ida.

With varying degrees of accuracy, explanations of the effects of atmospheric perspective were written by polymaths such as Leon Battista Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci. The latter used aerial perspective in many of his paintings such as The Annunciation, the Mona Lisa, and The Last Supper, introducing a technique to paint the effect accurately that was adopted by his followers, the Leonardeschi. Art historians note that it is lacking in works by some artists of the same period, such as Raphael, although he adopted the use of sfumato that was introduced by Leonardo at the same time.

Aerial perspective was used in paintings from the Netherlands in the fifteenth century by Leonardo da Vinci.

Optics

The major component affecting the appearance of objects during daylight is scattering of light, called sky light, into the line of sight of the viewer. Scattering occurs from molecules of the air and also from larger particles in the atmosphere such as water vapour and smoke.