Reverse Perspective - Other Uses of The Term

Other Uses of The Term

The term reverse perspective confusingly may also be used of a rather different convention, found in the Art of ancient Egypt and other cultures, and also known as vertical perspective, where minor scenes at the bottom of a painted image or carved relief are shown at a far smaller scale than the main figures higher up. This system should not be understood as an attempt to convey any visual reality in the connection between the sections at different scales, whose size is dictated by their relative importance.

The term reverse perspective can also refer to the work of Patrick Hughes. Reverse perspective in this context refers to the illusion that is created when the two dimensional perspective of a painting is reversed by the three dimensional relief on which it is painted. The effect is to confuse the brain such that a completely false image is created that appears "to move" with the viewer.