Abstract
In the present contribution, the author presents research on the Winter Room of Palazzo Brignole-Sale (Palazzo Rosso) in Genoa, Italy, which is part of the decorative cycle of the Seasons. The cycle displays the peculiar characteristics of the seventeenth-century Genoese decorative style, where architecture, painting, furniture and stuccos are highly interconnected. The research was carried out using the data collected with nodal-photography techniques. Thanks to these techniques, it was to possible to obtain an interactive panoramic spherical photo and high-resolution scaled photos of planar projections of the architectural perspective, in order to identify the real and illusory space. The analysis proceeded with a series of reverse-perspective constructions and the consequent reconstruction (using three-dimensional models) of the possible virtual space represented in the paintings. Thanks to this information, the author was able to carry out the necessary study to understand the peculiar characteristics of the decorations, the optical illusions of which are extremely impressive.
TopBackground
Architectural perspectives have appeared in the history of representation since the classical age, if considering, for example, the pseudo perspectives of the Pompeian paintings (De Rosa, 2001; Cardone, 2014; Messina, 2014). These artistic displays began spreading from the fifteenth century after the invention and diffusion of geometric linear perspective by Filippo Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti and Piero della Francesca (Sgrosso, 2001; Camerota, 2014).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Spherical Photography: Photography realized by stitching together different photos taken with the nodal photography technique.
Nodal Photography: The technique used with a panoramic rotating head that must maintain the same nodal point (i.e. the point of view of the lens) during the rotation, so that the nodal point collimates with the rotation centre.
Quadratura: Architectural perspective, often realized by specialized painters.
Architectural Perspective: Perspective representing an architectural structure, in order to obtain an illusory space.
Virtual Space: The model of the illusory space restituted using reverse-perspective constructions.
Reverse-Perspective Constructions: Reverse constructions of perspective used to obtain a restitution.
Illusory Space: The space represented in the painted architectural perspective.