This paper investigates the historical dimension of perspectival
representations. It aims to provide a heterogeneous though comparative picture
of culturally unrelated visual con- ceptualizations of pictorial spaces,
written with a view toward explaining how the multiple modes of perspective
were introduced in antiquity. Point of departure for this critical approach is
Erwin Panofsky’s essay Die Perspektive als ‘symbolische Form’ , published in
1927. His essay analyses the pictorial visualization of space and spatiality
in different historical contexts, examining their cultural codification in
terms of the heuristic category of ‘sym- bolic form’. However, ‘perspective’,
which is commonly understood as synonymous with ‘linear perspective’, deserves
a new discussion in the context of diverse visual cultures: A ‘naturalisation’
of the gaze as it is suggested by pictorial spaces which function mimetically
is primarily associated with the early modern period in Western art. Instead
of merely re- reading Panofsky’s canonical text, this paper presents an
interdisciplinary re-viewing of a selection of the pictorial examples chosen
by Panofsky, commenting upon their perspec- tive(s) from different vantage
points
