Satire on False Perspective is the title of an engraving produced by the English artist William Hogarth in 1754 for his friend Joshua Kirby's pamphlet on linear perspective. The intent of the work is clearly given by its caption: "Whoever makes a D without the Knowledge of P will be liable to such Absurdities as are shewn in this Frontiſpiece [frontispiece]."

Summary

The work shows a scene that provides many deliberate examples of confused and misplaced perspective effects. Although the individual components of the scene seem self-consistent, the scene itself can be classed as an example of an impossible object.

Partial list of "errors"

Aside from the impossibilities of scale, there are in fact approximately 10 different horizons based on the various vanishing points.

Historiography of perspective instruction

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.