Camera Lucida- a tool for non-artists, like myself.

[Saxon Violence]

Neat.

I may end up building one myself.

No one is entirely sure what the Olde Tyme Masters did. I'd heard some folks theorize that Vermeer used a Camera Obscura which isn't precisely the same as a Camera Lucida.

My sister is hooked on English Dramas and in one episode of "Midsummer's Murders" they featured a large Camera Obscura. The town was imaginary but the Camera Obscura actually exists.

I got curious and Googled.

Imagine a closed-in Gazebo. There is a cupola on the roof that has a lens resembling a periscope. Inside the lighting is low and a very vibrant image of the outside is recreated on a round white table about 30" in diameter—similar in concept to a projector screen. The image is bright enough that it resembles a TV Screen and of course the periscope/cupola can be rotated through 360^o .

There are several tutorials on how to build your own as well as at least one company to build one for you—if you go that route it is Expensive.

There would be no reason to limit the Camera Obscura to a Gazebo. A dedicated small room of the house/garage/workshop would suffice. The neighbors might get a wee mite poogly about a Periscope tracking their movements—however innocently—but the actually moving part could be shrouded.

You can also build a modest magnification into your Camera Obscura.

I wish that I could afford to have one built.

{I might be able to do most of it, but I'm no roofer and struggle with heights and the roof would need repair…}

Vermeer almost certainly did not use the rotating cupola version.

"Yes Girl with a Pearl Ear Ring—Please go stand in the garden and pose for me…"

There are other versions and it is a fascinating field of Endeavor.


Saxon Violence