It is not well known by the general public that great artists in the
past (and some in the present) have made use of devices to elaborate
their works of art. We refer to artists as Durer, Vermeer, Canaletto
and others. Generally a painter is only considered great if he produces
his art manually. The use of technical tracing or drawing methods is
relegated to the apprentice.
Well, it is so, great painters have made use of drawing machines to solve technical problems. They have done so systematically and most of all “secretly”. This fact has not been given much publicity, if any, and now it is totally forgotten. Today, at most, we recall maybe a few painters who used photography for his paintings. However, with almost complete certainty, we can say that Vermeer, Durer and others used drawing machines to help them. And all of this was made with means that have fallen into oblivion and hiding probably because fear to undermine their artistic talent or give others the chance to learn too soon something they were learning during years, competing for a place in art history.
This exhibition speaks about those machines and the artists who used them. It speaks about painting not produced by the eye of the creator artist but through intermediaries for seeing and drawing machines.
Possibly, the so called Leonardo’s Window is the first tool to be used. It was invented by the artist who gave it his name (Leonardo da Vinci) and redesigned by Albert Durer. They are essentially made of mirrors and lenses systems. To some extent, the works of Vermeer, Caravaggio, Canaletto and others are derived from the use of these machines. In the 19th century, it is quite possible that Ingress used the camera lucida designed by Wollanston for many of his drawings. The secret tradition of using machines to draw continued until the 20th century with David Hockney’s experiments on this matter.
Well, it is so, great painters have made use of drawing machines to solve technical problems. They have done so systematically and most of all “secretly”. This fact has not been given much publicity, if any, and now it is totally forgotten. Today, at most, we recall maybe a few painters who used photography for his paintings. However, with almost complete certainty, we can say that Vermeer, Durer and others used drawing machines to help them. And all of this was made with means that have fallen into oblivion and hiding probably because fear to undermine their artistic talent or give others the chance to learn too soon something they were learning during years, competing for a place in art history.
This exhibition speaks about those machines and the artists who used them. It speaks about painting not produced by the eye of the creator artist but through intermediaries for seeing and drawing machines.
Possibly, the so called Leonardo’s Window is the first tool to be used. It was invented by the artist who gave it his name (Leonardo da Vinci) and redesigned by Albert Durer. They are essentially made of mirrors and lenses systems. To some extent, the works of Vermeer, Caravaggio, Canaletto and others are derived from the use of these machines. In the 19th century, it is quite possible that Ingress used the camera lucida designed by Wollanston for many of his drawings. The secret tradition of using machines to draw continued until the 20th century with David Hockney’s experiments on this matter.
