Layers of Meaning

Vermeers Camera

Vermeers Camera, Uncovering the Truth Behind the Masterpieces. A Book by Philip Steadman The answer to how the Old Masters were so good - well, part of the answer.

"For more than a hundred years it has been suggested that the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (1632—1675) used the camera obscura. The camera obscura was the predecessor of the photographic camera. It is a simple optical device incorporating a pinhole or lens, with which an image of a scene can be projected onto a screen. The image can then be traced and copied. Art historians have come to accept the idea that Vermeer might have been inspired by such images, or might have used the camera occasionally. Vermeer’s Camera proposes, controversially, that the painter’s use of optical aids was much more extensive than this. "