Erwin Panofsky-s Perspective as Symbolic Form is one of the great works of modern intellectual history, the legendary text that has dominated all art-historical and philosophical discussions on the topic of perspective in this century. Finally available in English, this unrivaled example of Panofsky-s early method places him within broader developments in theories of knowledge and cultural change.
Here, drawing on a massive body of learning that ranges over ancient philosophy, theology, science, and optics as well as the history of art, Panofsky produces a type of -archaeology- of Western representation that far surpasses the usual scope of art historical studies.
Perspective in Panofsky-s hands becomes a central component of a Western -will to form,- the expression of a schema linking the social, cognitive, psychological, and especially technical practices of a given culture into harmonious and integrated wholes. He demonstrates how the perceptual schema of eac
