Vermeer and the Camera Obscura: Some Practical Considerations

Abstract

The remarkable precision of linear perspective in Vermeer’s paintings has led to the claim that he used a “room-type” camera obscura. However, the most readily available convex lenses available in the seventeenth century were those used for spectacles; these lenses had diameters of about 4 cm. The author shows that the use of such lenses in a large-scale camera obscura results in images of interior scenes that are too dim for effective visual inspection. Problems of inversion, reversal and depth of focus further complicate the images. It is concluded that Vermeer could not have traced his interiors directly at full size from the screen of a camera obscura. Vermeer’s composition and approach to linear perspective could have been stimulated by use of a small camera obscura, but his final works must have been painted right-side up and in good light.