Description: The theory of perspective, which allowed Florentine artists to depict the world from a spectator's point of view, originated in Baghdad with an eleventh-century mathematician. Using the metaphor of the mutual gaze, Belting narrates the encounter between science and art, Arab Baghdad and Renaissance Florence, that revolutionized Western culture.
Brief description: Hans Belting is Professor for Art History and Media Theory at the Academy for Design in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Review Quotes: The work of Hans Belting defies easy categorization. This foremost German scholar consistently offers studies of high intellectual rigor that are genuinely original and thought-provoking, with cross-disciplinary ramifications. The present work is no exception... Unusually daring.--A. V. Coonin "Choice"