Referring to Figure 1, Maisie and Alana First Made a Perspective Drawing (A) of the Baptistry

Referring to figure 1, Maisie and Alana first made a perspective drawing (A) of the Baptistry of Florence as seen from a station point near the central door of the cathedral. Next, they mounted their drawing flat on a mirror (B) and drilled a peephole (C) in the mirror. Finally, they positioned the mirror such that the peephole coincided with their station point; you can see the cathedral door in the background. An observer (D) stands behind the mirror and looks through the peephole. The observer's lines of sight go through the peephole, bounce off a second mirror (E), spread out to encompass the drawing. What they see is a drawing of the baptistry and, if the construction is correct and the mirrors are properly placed, the real sky beyond the bapistry, as reflected in the mirror on which the drawing is mounted. If the construction is incorrect, they would instead see parts of the bapistry or they would miss parts of the sky. Unfortunately, Brunelleschi's panel is now lost, and the sizes and placements of the drawing and mirrors are not known for certain. As a guide, Maisie and Alana used the parameters suggested by Martin Kemp in his monograph, The Science of Art.