Brook Taylor's Work on Linear Perspectives

The aim of this book is to make accessible the two important but rare works of Brook Taylor and to describe his role in the history of linear perspective. Taylor's works, "Linear Perspective" and "New Principles on Linear Perspective", are among the most important source-works in the history of the theory of perspective. This text focuses on two aspects of this history. The first is the development, starting in the beginning of the 17th century, of a mathematical theory of perspective where gifted mathematicians used their creativity to solve basic problems of perspective and simultaneously were inspired to consider more general problems in projective geometry. Taylor was one of the key figures in this development. The second aspect concerns the problem of transmitting the knowledge gained by mathematicians to those practising the art. Although Taylor's books were mathematical rather than challenging, he was the first mathematician to succeed in making practitioners interested in teaching the theoretical foundation of perspective. He became so important in the development of perspective theory and practice that he was named "the father of modern perspective" in England.
The English school of Taylor followers contained, among others, the painter John Kirby, Joseph Highmore and the scientist Joseph Priestley. After its translation to Italian and French in the 1750s, Taylor's work became popular on the continent. This monograph on the history of mathematics is intended for graduate students in mathematics.