Vol 11, No 1, 2026

Title: Perspectiva between vision, space, and image

Editors: Riccardo Saccenti, Amalia Salvestrini

Submission Deadline: Long Abstract (1,000 words max): 15 November 2025

This journal issue aims to focus new scholarly attention on the subject of perspective—both as a theory of vision and as a means of representing space—and on its historical and theoretical origins and developments.

In his foundational study on perspective, Panofsky identifies Renaissance perspective as the culmination of a historical-theoretical trajectory that leads to a symbolic representation of space. The subject’s point of view also becomes a crucial moment in the formation of the modern subject, within a mathematised and geometrised theory of vision and nature. Building on Late Antique theories of vision, such as those of Augustine, and moving through the Arabic tradition (e.g., Alhazen), to Grosseteste, and the perspectivists Roger Bacon and John Peckham, as well as the geometric optics of Biagio Pelacani da Parma, our inquiry also extends to other Humanistic and Early Modern thinkers and artists, including Lorenzo Ghiberti, Nicholas of Cusa, Leon Battista Alberti, Piero della Francesca, Luca Pacioli, and Leonardo da Vinci.

Within this framework—and beyond the teleology outlined by Panofsky—we ask: What have been the historical modes of representing space? What theories and techniques of vision, from Late Antiquity to Humanism, have shaped different conceptions of spatiality? How have artists and artisans addressed the problems of depth, three-dimensionality, and spatial representation in the visual arts? Were there intersections between different arts (e.g., between visual and auditory arts) in shaping the idea of depth and space?

The issue welcomes contributions that explore the historical and theoretical origins of perspective, from Late Antiquity to Humanism, with particular attention to—but not limited to—the following themes:

●  Perspective and the image
●  Concepts of spatiality and representations of space
● Relationships between perspectiva naturalis and perspectiva artificialis
● Empirical-artistic experiments and perspectiva artificialis
● Optical theories, and theories and techniques of vision
● Relationships between visual and auditory arts: visual depth and acoustic depth

Abstracts and papers will be accepted in French, Italian, German, and Spanish, even though. English is highly recommended. Linguistic revision, if required, will be authors’responsibility.For more info, details, and abstract submission, please contact redazione.gdf@gmail.com.