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Florimène at the Court of Charles I

Perspective Setting: A painted or constructed setting which creates the illusion of greater depth than the stage space actually contains. The "rules" of stage perspective were evolved from those of the Renaissance easel painters (cf. The Renaissance Stage, ed. Bernard Hewitt.)

Often referred to as the "illusionistic perspective setting:" that is, a setting which employs single or multiple vanishing point perspective to create the illusion of great depth. Evidence from the Renaissance suggests that audiences were aware that an illusion was being created, and delighted in having the eye deceived, in much the way that audiences today delight in the illusion of stage magic (eg., David Copperfield, Harry Blackstone, etc.)

Jack Wolcott