Tuesday, July 10, 2012

VERMEER AND CAMERA OBSCURA

Many art historians believe the17th-century Dutch Master painter Johannes Vermeer used the camera obscura.

The reason they believe Vermeer was used camera obscura is by observing the visual effects in some of his paintings. For example, when you look at the above painting Officer and Laughing Girl, you will notice the officer's body is nearly twice the size of the girl.  The disproportionate size is a result of seeing the scene through a lens, in other words, a photographic perspective.  If this were a photograph rather than a painting, the size variation would not be as noticeable.  We are quite familiar today with foreground objects appearing very large in snapshots, but in 17th-century painting this was rather unusual.  Vermeer's fellow painters would have painted the officer and girl equally in size.  This scene is correct in the visual sense; the officer just looks so much bigger because of his closeness to the viewer.

If you would like to read more about Vermeer and his use of camera obscura, click here for a very interesting three-part article, Vermeer and the Camera Obscura.

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