The Study of Perspective

余囊歲即留心視學率嘗任智殫思䆒未得其端绪迨後獲與泰西郎学士數相晤对即能以西法作中土繪事始以㝎点引线之法貽余能盡物類之變態一得㝎位則蟬聯而生虽毫忽分秒不能互置然後物之尖斜平直規圓矩方行笔不离乎纸而其四周全體一若空懸中央面面可见至扵天光遙臨日色旁射以及燈燭之輝暎遠近大小隨形成影曲折隱顯莫不如意蓋一本乎物之自然而以目力受之犁然有當扵人心余然後知視之為學如是也今一室之中而位置一物不得其所则觸目之傾既有不適之意生焉鈏笔墨之事可以舍是哉然古人之論繪事者有矣曰仰畫飛檐又曰深見溪谷中事則其目力已上下無定所矣烏足以語學耶而其言之近似者则曰透空一望百斜都見終未若此冊之切要著明也余故悉次為圖公諸同好勤敏之士得其理而通之大而山川之高廣細而蟲魚花鳥之動植飛潛无一不可窮神盡秘而得其真者毋徒漫語人曰真而不妙夫不真又安所得妙哉

己酉二月之朔偶齋年希堯書

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For many years past I had directed my attention to the study of vision and perspective; I exhausted my intellect in reflection, yet was unable to grasp its underlying principles. Only later, upon several occasions of discourse with Giuseppe Castiglione, a scholar from the West, did I come to employ Western methods in the pictorial arts of China. He first imparted to me the method of fixing a point and drawing guiding lines, whereby the transformations of all forms might be fully rendered.

Once the fixed point is established, all elements arise in continuous and orderly succession; even the slightest deviation, though no more than a hair’s breadth or a moment’s measure, admits of no arbitrary displacement. Only then may the pointed and the oblique, the level and the straight, the circular and the square be determined, as the brush proceeds without departing from the plane of the paper. Thus the object in its entirety appears as though suspended in space upon a central axis, with all its surfaces simultaneously revealed.

As for the light of heaven falling from afar, the rays of the sun striking from the side, or the glow of lamps and candles, whether near or distant, great or small — each gives rise to shadows according to form, bent or straight, concealed or manifest, all in perfect accordance. For this method is grounded wholly in the natural properties of things, apprehended by the power of the eye, and it strikes the mind with unmistakable clarity. Only then did I come to understand that the study of vision is indeed such a discipline. Now, even within a single chamber, if one object be placed out of its proper position, the eye at once perceives a distortion, and a sense of unease immediately arises. How, then, could the art of brush and ink dispense with such principles?

Yet the ancients did speak of painting, saying one should depict flying eaves by gazing upward, or discern the depths of ravines below; thereby the eye is cast alternately upward and downward, without any fixed point of vision. How could this suffice to be called a true discipline of learning?

Those among them whose words come closest speak of “seeing through space at a single glance, whereby all oblique lines are perceived”, yet even this falls short of the essential clarity so explicitly set forth in this treatise. Therefore I have arranged the illustrations in full sequence and made them public for those who share this interest. Let the diligent and perceptive grasp these principles and master them: whether in the vastness of mountains and rivers, or in the minutest movements of insects, fish, flowers, and birds, whether rooted or in flight, submerged or soaring, nothing lies beyond the reach of penetrating their essence and attaining their truth. Let none idly assert that truth is lacking in refinement. For if a work is not true, whence could refinement ever arise?

Written by Nien Hsi-Yao at his studio on the first day of the second month of 1729