Reflections of Reality in Jan van Eyck and Robert Campin

Abstract

There has been considerable debate about the perspectival/optical bases of the naturalism pioneered by Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck. Their paintings feature brilliantly rendered convex mirrors, which have been the subject of much comment, especially iconographical. David Hockney has recently argued that the Netherlandish painters exploited the image-forming capacities of concave mirrors. However, the secrets of the images within the painted mirrors have yet to be revealed. By means of novel, rigorous techniques to analyze the geometric accuracy of the mirrors, unexpected findings emerge, which radically affect our perception of the way in which the paintings have been generated. The authors focus on Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait, and the Heinrich von Werl Triptych, here reattributed to Robert Campin. The accuracy of the images in the convex mirrors depicted in these paintings is assessed by applying mathematical techniques drawn from computer vision. The proposed algorithms also allow the viewer to "rectify" the image in the mirror so that it becomes a central projection, thus providing a second view from the back of the painted room. The plausibility of the painters' renderings of space in the convex mirrors can then be assessed. The rectified images can be used for purposes of three-dimensional reconstruction as well as for measuring accurate dimensions of objects and people. The surprising results presented in this article cast a new light on the understanding of the artists' techniques and their optical imitation of seen things and potentially require a rethinking of the foundations of Netherlandish naturalism. The results also suggest that the von Werl panels should be reinstated as autograph works by Campin. Additionally, this research represents a further attempt to build a constructive dialogue between two very different disciplines: computer science and art history. Despite their fundamental differences, the two disciplines can learn from and be enriched by each other.

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