Art and Design

Introduction

When Perspective Goes Wrong

This is a famous print from 1754 by the artist William Hogarth. He called it Satire on False Perspective. It is full of visual jokes about how things look if an artist gets perspective wrong. How many impossible things can you see?

The woman leaning out of the window is the same size as the man on the distant hill, so it looks like she could be lighting his pipe. Look at the barrel on the right – you shouldn’t be able to see its top and bottom at the same time. There are about 20 other problems!