Abstract

Recently, one of us (DH) observed that certain drawings and paintings from as early as the Renaissance seemed almost "photographic" in detail. An extensive visual investigation of western art of the past 1000 years resulted in the revolutionary claim that artists even of the prominence of van Eyck and Bellini must have used optical aids. However, art historians insisted there was no supporting evidence for such a remarkable assertion. This paper presents a variety of optical evidence we subsequently discovered that convincingly demonstrates optical instruments were in use–by artists, not scientists–nearly 200 years earlier than previously even thought possible, and that accounts for the remarkable transformation in the reality of portraits that occurred early in the 15th century. We also discuss a few of the implications this work has for the history of science as well as the history of art, and show examples that can be incorporated in the undergraduate curriculum for enhancing the teaching of optics to science as well as non-science majors.

© 2003 Optical Society of America