Main entry:

Steadman, Philip, 1942-

Title & Author:

Vermeer's camera : uncovering the truth behind the masterpieces / Philip Steadman.

Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, ©2001.

Description:

xiv, 207 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The camera obscura -- The discovery of Vermeer's use of the camera -- Who taught Vermeer about optics? -- A room in Vermeer's house? -- Reconstructing the spaces in Vermeer's paintings -- The riddle of the Sphinx of Delft -- More evidence, from rebuilding Vermeer's studio -- Arguments against Vermeer's use of the camera -- The influence of the camera on Vermeer's painting style -- Architectural features appearing in Vermeer's interiors -- Measurements of Vermeer's room and furniture.
Current Copyright Fee: GBP22.50 0.

Summary:

Art historians have long speculated on how Vermeer achieved the uncanny mixture of detached precision, compositional repose, and perspective accuracy that have drawn many to describe his work as "photographic." Indeed, many wonder if Vermeer employed a camera obscura, a primitive form of camera, to enhance his realistic effects? In Vermeer's Camera, Philip Steadman traces the development of the camera obscura--first described by Leonaro da Vinci--weighs the arguments that scholars have made for and against Vermeer's use of the camera, and offers a fascinating examination of the paintings themselves and what they alone can tell us of Vermeer's technique. Vermeer left no record of his method and indeed we know almost nothing of the man nor of how he worked. But by a close and illuminating study of the paintings Steadman concludes that Vermeer did use the camera obscura and shows how the inherent defects in this primitive device enabled Vermeer to achieve some remarkable effects--the slight blurring of image, the absence of sharp lines, the peculiar illusion not of closeness but of distance in the domestic scenes. Steadman argues that the use of the camera also explains some previously unexplainable qualities of Vermeer's art, such as the absence of conventional drawing, the pattern of underpainting in areas of pure tone, the pervasive feeling of reticence that suffuses his canvases, and the almost magical sense that Vermeer is painting not objects but light itself. Drawing on a wealth of Vermeer research and displaying an extraordinary sensitivity to the subtleties of the work itself, Philip Steadman offers in Vermeer's Camera a fresh perspective on some of the most enchanting paintings ever created.

Resources:
Table of contents
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description

ISBN:

0192159674
9780192159670
0192803026
9780192803023

Subject:

Vermeer, Johannes, 1632-1675.
Vermeer, Jan, 1632-1675.
Photography, Pinhole.
Camera obscuras.
Painting, Dutch.
Sténopé.
Chambres noires (Optique)
Peinture hollandaise.
pinhole photography.
camera obscuras.
Schilderijen.
Camera obscura.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 236206
Call No.: BIB 166037
Status: Available