Brunelleschi’s Mirror, Perspectival Drawing and the Artful Prevention of Crime

Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), a Florentine architect and Renaissance polymath, not only invented a mirror that allowed artists and draughtspersons to capture linear perspective, he was also the first beneficiary of a modern patent. Governments grant patents as time-limited, monopoly exploitation rights over inventions in exchange for full disclosure of the details of the invention. On the expiry of the monopoly, anyone can use and develop the invention. Perspectival drawings have been used for centuries both to prove and disclose inventions. Patents are items of personal property but patent infringement is not technically theft. However, appropriating trade secrets that could lead to registration of a patent does constitute theft under the Crimes Act 1961. This presentation flips the symposium theme of preventing art crime to consider how art may prevent certain crimes. The presentation considers Brunelleschi’s mirror and the role of linear perspective in permitting the construction of drawings that plausibly represent three-dimensional objects. These drawings are instrumental in proving inventiveness for patent registration purposes, and therefore the creation of property rights. They also constitute evidence that can contribute to preventing theft of trade secrets. Furthermore, they can be instrumental in proving infringement of copyright, registered designs or trade marks.