They Did It With Mirrors!

They Did It With Mirrors!

 

You can’t stand in front of the paintings of the old masters and not wonder, how did ¹⁾Frans Hals make that lace seem so real? How did ²⁾Van Dyck make his armor so gleamingly ³⁾metallic¹? How did ⁴⁾Caravaggio make his faces so expressive² and lifelike? The theory is they had help; the help of lenses or ⁵⁾concave mirrors. If someone, say, like me, stands outside, bathed in light, an image can be projected inside, onto a wall, upside down; something like this. That projected image can then be copied. The man with the mirror is David Hockney, one of our best-known artists, and it’s his theory the old masters used the early technology of ⁶⁾optics and kept it secret. 

Hockney: I’m suggesting that artists saw these projections⁴. They’re very simple to make, and when you make them, they’re very beautiful and exciting. 

When set up carefully in a studio, the projection³ is bright and clear. It was so much easier than painting from life. Once the artist saw these ⁷⁾flattened out, two-⁸⁾dimensional projections, says Hockney, they couldn’t resist. 

Hockney: It’s hard to believe that in the 15th century they would say, what an amusing novelty. How interesting...

Journalist: ...let’s not use it.

Hockney:  ...but let’s not use that. People want to know how pictures are made. They always did. And that’s the one thing art history doesn’t tell you about. 

Once he figured out how the pictures were made, he set out to discover where and when the use of optics began. Back in his studio in Los Angeles, he built his great wall of hundreds of paintings ⁹⁾spanning hundreds of years. 

Hockney:  We did come to about 1420 and realized something happened.

What happens is a sudden appearance of realism. Before 1420, faces were idealized.  Immediately after, they were true to life. 

Journalist: Here’s what’s so revolutionary about what you’re saying. You’re saying the history of art, the history of the ¹⁰⁾Renaissance⁶, is the history of optics. 

Hockney: I am saying that.

Journalist: I know that. And you’re blowing everything up. You’re blowing everything that all of us who took art appreciation⁷ studied, all the art historians have written, and you’re saying, “You’re all wrong. It’s all about optics.”

Needless to say, Hockney and his book about all this, called Secret Knowledge, have rocked the art world, where most art historians say, “It’s ¹¹⁾bunk⁸!”

Hockney: All these art historians, not one of them, ever took the trouble to look through a camera obscurer to see what it was like. They didn’t. 

Journalist: They don’t like the idea that you suggest they traced; there’s an implication of cheating. 

Hockney: I don’t get that myself. 

   “They weren’t cheaters at all”, he says. “They were great innovators.”

Hockney: Not only did they have skills you think you know, they had marvelous skills about optical things as well. 

 

镜画

 

站在古代大师的油画前你会不由得惊叹：弗兰茨·哈尔斯是怎样使蕾丝缎带看起来这样逼真的？凡戴克是怎样使盔甲散发出若隐若现的金属光泽？卡拉瓦乔又是怎样使人物肖像富于表情而又栩栩如生？答案是他们借用了外物——透镜和凹镜。比如说，如果我站在光线充足的户外，利用镜面影像就会投射到室内的墙上倒置过来。画家可以对着投影来复制。这个手拿镜子的人是大卫·霍可尼——最著名的艺术家之一，他提出一个理论：古代的大画家利用了早期光学原理并且秘而不宣。

霍可尼：我认为，画家们看到了这些投影。要对着投影来描是很容易的，那样做出来的效果非常漂亮，令人激动。

如果在画室里放好设备，投影就会明亮而清晰。这比照着实物画要容易多了。当画师们看到这倒置的二维投影，霍可尼说道，他们无法抗拒。

霍可尼：很难相信十五世纪的人们会说：多新鲜啊，太有趣了……

记者：……可是我们不用这个办法……

霍可尼：……可是我们不用这个办法。大家都想知道画作的过程。一直都想知道。而这正是艺术史没有告诉我们的。

当霍可尼推断出画作的过程后，他开始研究这种光学应用是从什么时候、在哪里开始。他位于洛杉矶的画室中，墙上挂着多幅跨度数百年的油画。

霍可尼：我们研究到1420年左右时，发现了一些不寻常的情况。

所谓的“不寻常情况”是指现实主义画派的突然出现。在1420年以前，人物的脸部都被理想化过。而在1420年以后，突然变得活灵活现起来。

记者：你的理论非常具有震撼力。你是说艺术史、文艺复兴的历史就是一部光学的历史。

霍可尼：我正是这个意思。

记者：我明白了。你否定了一切。你否定了我们所有人欣赏艺术时的角度，否定了所有艺术历史学家们的著作，你等于是说：“你们都错了。这些完全是光学作用。”

不用说也知道，霍可尼和他讲述此理论并被命名为《秘密学问》的书震动了整个艺术界，很多艺术历史学家都说他∶“胡说八道！”

霍可尼：所有这些艺术历史学家，他们当中没有一个人亲自透过镜头来看看到底是怎么一回事。他们谁也没这么做过。

记者：他们不高兴，因为你说他们复制；暗示他们有欺骗行为。

霍可尼：我不明白怎么会有这种反应。

“他们根本不是骗子”，他说，“他们都是伟大的创新者。”

霍可尼：他们不仅拥有你所知道的绘画技巧，而且他们还懂得利用非凡的光学技巧。

 

注释:

1) Frans Hals: 弗兰茨·哈尔斯（1581?-1666），荷兰画家。

2) Van Dyck: Anthony Van Dyck, 安·凡戴克（1599-1641），佛兰芒画家。

3) metallic [mi5tAlik] a. 金属（性）的

4) Caravaggio: Michelangelo Caravaggio 米开朗琪罗·卡拉瓦乔（约1565-1609？），意大利画家。

5) concave [5kCn5keiv] a. 凹的

6) optic [5Cptik] a. 光学上的

7) flatten⁵ [5flAtn] v. 打倒

8) dimensional [di5menFEnEl] a.  空间的

9) span [spAn] v.  横越

10) Renaissance [rE5neisEns] n. 文艺复兴

11) bunk [bQNk] n. （美国俚语）骗人的鬼话；废话

1 metallic   

adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的

参考例句：

• A sharp metallic note coming from the outside frightened me.外面传来尖锐铿锵的声音吓了我一跳。
• He picked up a metallic ring last night.昨夜他捡了一个金属戒指。

2 expressive   

adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的

参考例句：

• Black English can be more expressive than standard English.黑人所使用的英语可能比正式英语更有表现力。
• He had a mobile,expressive,animated face.他有一张多变的，富于表情的，生动活泼的脸。

3 projection   

n.发射，计划，突出部分

参考例句：

• Projection takes place with a minimum of awareness or conscious control.投射在最少的知觉或意识控制下发生。
• The projection of increases in number of house-holds is correct.对户数增加的推算是正确的。

4 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

5 flatten   

v.把．．．弄平，使倒伏；使(漆等)失去光泽

参考例句：

• We can flatten out a piece of metal by hammering it.我们可以用锤子把一块金属敲平。
• The wrinkled silk will flatten out if you iron it.发皱的丝绸可以用熨斗烫平。

6 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

7 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

8 bunk   

n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话

参考例句：

• He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
• Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。