Satire on False Perspective
The intent of the work is clearly given by its caption: Whoever makes a DESIGN without the Knowledge of PERSPECTIVE will be liable to such Absurdities as are shewn in this Frontiſpiece [frontispiece].The work shows a scene that provides many deliberate examples of confused and misplaced perspective effects.Aside from the impossibilities of scale, there are in fact approximately 10 different horizons based on the various vanishing points.[citation needed] Until Brook Taylor's treatise on linear perspective was published in 1715, artists were taught perspective by studying methods used in earlier works by famous artists, rather than studying the mathematics behind the methods.Hogarth created the St Martin's Lane Academy partially to remedy this gap in studies, and he invited his friend Kirby to become a perspective teacher there.Kirby obliged and later, by publishing his pamphlet, became famous enough to gain a royal appointment as a perspective teacher.