Reverse perspective also called inverse perspective or Byzantine perspective, is a technique of perspective drawing where the further the objects are, the larger they are drawn. The lines diverge against the horizon, rather than converge as in linear perspective. Technically, the vanishing points are placed outside the painting with the illusion that they are "in front of" the painting. Linear perspective is the art of representing three-dimensional constructions on a two-dimensional surface. ...

The name Byzantine perspective comes from the fact that a use of this kind of perspective is observed in earlier Byzantine and Russian Orthodox icons. It is difficult to say now what were the intentions of the ancient iconographers, but a common interpretation is that the point of perspective is on the viewer, hence The Almighty looks upon him, rather than the viewer looks upon The Almighty. It displays the spiritual rather than the physical reality. The most famous of the surviving Byzantine mosaics of the Church of the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sofia) in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) - the image of Christ on the walls of the upper southern gallery. ... Christ the Redeemer, a well-known Russian Orthodox icon from Zvenigorod. ... The Savior (1410s, by Andrei Rublev) An icon (from Greek , eikon, image) is an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it, or by analogy, as in semiotics; in computers an icon is a symbol on the monitor... It has been said “A picture is worth a thousand words”, and so it is that iconography is the traditional art of portraying figures in pigment that symbolically mean more than a simple depiction of the person involved. ...

An alternative interpretation would be that as God is omnipresent, his view rather than scanning out from a point, converges from everywhere. According to this, the reverse perspective would be imitative of the conception and or sensorium of God. God is the term used to denote the Supreme Being believed by many people, and especially followers of monotheistic religions, to be the creator, ruler and/or the sum total of, existence. ... Omnipresence is defined, in a general sense, as the ability to be present in every place at any time; unbounded or universal presence. ...

A practical effect of reverse perspective is that since our vision has its greatest acuity at the focus, a visual representation which enlarges things which are not at the center, will tend to even out the lack of discernment of detail, thus aiding in the envisionment of the image as a gestalt. Gestalt is a German word meaning shape or form. ...