Prospettiva

Prospettiva is the Italian term for perspective or point of view. In Italian, it denotes both a visual technique for representing depth on a flat surface and a figurative standpoint from which events, situations, or ideas are considered. The word is used in art, philosophy, planning, and everyday language.

Etymology: From Latin perspectiva, via Italian; related to perspicere “to look through” or “to see clearly,” with the sense of viewpoint or method for representing three-dimensional space.

In art and architecture: Prospettiva refers to techniques for depicting depth on a two-dimensional plane. The development of linear perspective in Renaissance Italy, associated with Filippo Brunelleschi and codified by Leon Battista Alberti, introduced the use of a horizon line, a vanishing point, and converging orthogonal lines. Perspective drawing, atmospheric perspective, and foreshortening allowed more accurate spatial representation and realism.

In other contexts: The term also denotes a point of view in discourse, ethics, and planning; e.g., considering a problem from a different prospettiva. In mathematics and computer graphics, prospettiva is used to describe perspective projection, where 3D coordinates are mapped onto a 2D image plane following a projection center or camera model.

Today, prospettiva remains a standard Italian word for both literal and figurative perspective, and it appears in literature, art criticism, education, and design.