M. Monti 2011. All Rights Reserved. http://lashp.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/camera_obscura_1.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Camera_Obscura_box 18thCentury.jpgDid Johannes Vermeer use a camera obscura? Introduction: What is the camera obscura? The camera obscura is an optical device, which can project an image of its surroundings onto a screen. In Latin “camera” is a “vaulted chamber/room”, and “obscura” means “dark”, so “camera obscura” translates as “darkened chamber/room”. The device is made up of either a room or box with a small hole in one side. Light from the environment outside then passes through the hole and is projected onto the opposite side of the box, but is inverted in the process (see diagram). The colour and proportions of the image are preserved, it is simply upside down. The image could be projected onto a canvas or paper and traced around to give the artwork a very realistic quality. The size of the pinhole can be altered to change the brightness and sharpness of the image. Increasing the size of it makes the image brighter but has the disadvantage of producing a less sharp image. However if lenses are used to focus the image, a large aperture can be used, to have a brighter image, but the sharpness of the image is maintained. The first mentions of the principles behind the camera go as far back as Mo-Ti, a Chinese philosopher who lived from 470 BCE to 390 BCE. Slightly later, Aristotle (384-322 BCE) understood the optical theory of the camera, as he observed the sun projected through holes in a sieve. By the 13 th century the camera obscura was used to observe solar eclipses safely, but it was not until the 15 th century that the device may have been used as a drawing aid, when Leonardo da Vinci described it in his drawings and writings. By the 17 th century further enhancements were being made to camera obscura. A more portable version in the form of a box was used, utilising an angled mirror to project upwards onto tracing paper, so that the image was now up the right way (see diagram). It has been widely speculated that the Dutch Masters in the 17 th Century made use of the camera obscura due to their paintings appearing more realistic than others at the time. Recently David Hockney argued in his boo k “Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old
