Painting - Squares of a 3-4-5 Triangle in Scalene Perspective (Dürer)
- Description
- This painting, while similar in subject to the painting entitled Perspective (Alberti), depicts three planes perpendicular to the canvas. These three planes provide a detailed, three-dimensional view of space through the use of perspective. Three vanishing points are implied (though not shown) in the painting, one in each of the three planes.
- The painting shows a 3-4-5 triangle surrounded by squares proportional in number to the square of the side. That is, the horizontal plane contains nine squares, the vertical plane contains sixteen squares, and the oblique plane, which represents the hypotenuse of the 3-4-5 triangle, contains twenty-five squares. This explains the extension of the vertical and oblique planes and reminds the viewer of the Pythagorean theorem. Thus, Crockett Johnson has cleverly shown the illustration of two of his other paintings; Squares of a 3-4-5 Triangle (Pythagoras) and Proof of the Pythagorean Theorem (Euclid), in perspective; hence the title of the painting.
- The title of this painting points to the role of the German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) in creating ways of representing three-dimensional figures in a plane. Dürer is particularly remembered for a posthumously published treatise on human proportion. In his book entitled The Life and Art of Albrecht Dürer, art historian Erwin Panofsky explains that the work of Dürer with perspective demonstrated that the field was not just an element of painting and architecture, but an important branch of mathematics.
- This construction may well have originated with Crockett Johnson. The oil painting was completed in 1965 and is signed: CJ65. It is #8 in his series of mathematical paintings.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- painting
- date made
- 1965
- referenced
- Duerer, Albrecht
- painter
- Johnson, Crockett
- Physical Description
- wood (frame material)
- masonite (substrate material)
- Measurements
- overall: 82 cm x 65 cm x .6 cm; 32 5/16 in x 25 9/16 in x 1/4 in
- ID Number
- 1979.1093.04
- catalog number
- 1979.1093.04
- accession number
- 1979.1093
- subject
- Art
- Science & Mathematics
- Crockett Johnson
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Crockett Johnson
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- Credit Line
- Ruth Krauss in memory of Crockett Johnson
- Additional Media
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