The pictorial space is the optical perception that gives a flat image the perception of depth. In all cases the observer is simultaneously aware of the image as a physical object & as a 3 dimensional space.

The glorification & use of special effects was a popular approach of detaching the events & reality of the 30 years war. It heavily relied on special effects & in particular their power to convert the terror of the counter reformation into 'friendly rides'. (Normal Klein)

Then as now special effects acted as a form of distraction from reality. A tool for glorification, polarisation, & the implication of the sublime.

Thus the Great Miseries of War saw the transformation from the harsh realities of war as etched drawings to the dramatic & realistic Fall of the Damned by Rubens. The fascination of the sublime stretches into the Romantic period & becomes the theme of Casper David Friedrich's paintings, whether that may be the sublime ruination of time or the natural forces that sculpt the landscapes.

The Sublime bears a hostile relationship to the human, insofar as it being so vast & powerful that it threatens to overwhelm the individual. Furthermore we take aesthetic pleasure in such fearsome & overwhelming scenes. (Arthur Schopenhauer)

We learn of tragedy through images on a screen that somewhat blurs the boundaries between the real, the fictional & the actual, finding a certain aesthetic that we may well appreciate until the images become to vivid & mathematically sublime.

We experience the Baroque cover ups, mediated by the internalised camera lens that distances the self from the horror & tragedy.

The pictorial space is an integral interface of the baroque architecture. Framing the sublime in a way that the eye can contain & wonder the chaos & raw power of the picture. The image captures the audience between the real & the fictional, turning the flat one point perspective into an infinite space. Which comes crashing down once the defined position towards the picture plane is ignored.