This apparently contradictory object turned Brunelleschi’s drawing, almost magically, into such a good likeness of the three-dimensional Baptistery building that it was indistinguishable from the real thing. Indeed, when Brunelleschi used a mirror to compare the painting and the building, the reflected image matched the building’s geometry exactly. The vanishing point turned a two-dimensional drawing into a perfect simulation of a three-dimensional building.
