PH
The intended viewpoint of a sculpture can matter enormously.
Large sculptures positioned high above viewers were sometimes designed with foreshortening and altered proportions so they would appear correct from the ground.
If you viewed the same sculpture from eye level, parts of it might look unusually proportioned.
This wasn't necessarily an error.
The artist was compensating for the fact that the viewer would experience the sculpture from a specific location.
Architecture and sculpture could therefore be designed together.
The building determined where the audience stood, while the sculpture was adjusted for that viewpoint.
An artwork can look “wrong” from the wrong position precisely because it was designed to look right from the intended one.
© Smarthistory